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U.S. Air Force News

  • Black Flag first responders train with tunnel vision

    Cold and dimly lit walls surround Airmen dressed in crinkling, sweaty plastic suits to protect against unknown hazards. Firefighters, paramedics, emergency responders, bioenvironmental engineers and police forces share the former highway tunnel year-round for numerous crisis situation exercises.

  • Space planning essential to battle success

    "Space, the final frontier," can mean a lot to people in different careers, but is the vast blackness filled with mesmerizing intergalactic-lights important to today's warfighter?According to Capt. Jamil Brown, the 607th Air Operations Center chief of space plans, space is a newer concept to

  • Combating common enemies

    Picture yourself as the aircrew of a military aircraft, dealing with an unfortunate situation that forces you to eject behind enemy lines. In order to survive, you must evade the enemy all while communicating with the appropriate personnel to be rescued.To train for this type of situation in a

  • Natural disaster response improved at Cope North 15

    More than 300 service members from six countries joined together to conduct the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) portion of exercise Cope North 15 from Feb. 15 to 18, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and throughout the region of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

  • Cope North 15 kicks off at Andersen

    Exercise Cope North 15 kicked off at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, Feb. 15, and will run through Feb. 27, marking the 86th iteration of the multilateral training exercise.

  • Female U-2 pilot blazes trail through society and space

    As a child she imagined flying amongst the stars, thousands of miles above the earth’s surface, and today Lt. Col. Merryl Tengesdal is one of eight female pilots to ever fly the U-2 and the only black female pilot during the aircraft's history.

  • Arctic conditions make cleaning waste a challenge

    Members of the 611th Civil Engineer Squadron, along with five other state and federal agencies, practiced techniques to deal with oil or hazardous waste spills under cold weather conditions during an exercise here Feb. 3-5.

  • Lead-in training increases Afghan capabilities

    Train, Advise, Assist Command – Air maintainers are providing lead-in training to Afghan air force airmen at the Kabul Air Wing in an effort to ensure they excel at the C-130 Hercules maintenance courses they will attend in the U.S.

  • Cope South experts exchange knowledge, techniques

    The flight line here at exercise Cope South 15 (CS15) is usually a flurry of activity every morning, with maintainers firing up auxiliary power units and loadmasters finalizing their cargo plan.However on Jan. 27, there wasn't a single C-130 Hercules aircraft engine running. Instead, U.S. and

  • For the love of shooting

    If you were to ask Staff Sgt. Alan Daly to explain the role combat arms instructors play in the success of the 48th Fighter Wing mission, he would say that the base is a “forward, ready, now” base."That's what we do. We deploy," said the 48th Security Forces Squadron combat arms instructor.

  • Cope South 15 launches in Bangladesh

    U.S. Air Force and Bangladesh air force (BAF) personnel took to the sky Jan. 24, for the launch of exercise Cope South 15, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, bilateral tactical airlift exercise at BAF Base Bangabandhu, Bangladesh.

  • 341st MMXS missile communications train for field

    When it comes to ensuring the U.S.'s intercontinental ballistic missiles are ready at a moment's notice, an essential piece to the puzzle is proper maintenance on its communications network.This is where the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron Missile Communications training section comes into play.

  • AFSOUTH aids in training partners for UN Peace keeping mission

    Members of Air Forces Southern military training team were given the opportunity in December 2014, to teach the Defense Institute for Medical Operations train-the-trainer course focused on the Ebola virus to approximately 100 individuals from Latin American partner countries.

  • Ramstein Airmen train with French air force

    Airmen from the 37th Airlift Squadron participated in Volfa 15-1, an annual, multilateral training event led by the French air force at Orleans - Bricy Air Base, France, Jan. 21.

  • Air Force BMT introduces innovative Capstone Week

    Air Force basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph-Lackland will soon restructure its current eight-and-a-half-week course to make room for a new five-day program called Capstone Week, beginning Jan. 27 with trainees entering BMT.

  • Yokota aircrew practices survival tactics in Fuji foothills

    An aircrew with the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan, tested their survival, evasion, resistance and escape capabilities Jan. 16 at Camp Fuji, Japan. The SERE-led exercise tested their ability to survive a simulated aircraft crash behind enemy lines.

  • Adventure in Alaska: Officer looks to mush dogs in Iditarod

    Snow and trees are all that can be seen for miles while the bitter cold nips at any piece of exposed skin. Maj. Roger Lee can almost taste the frost touching his warm breath as he yells "mush" to command his 16 dogs to trudge across the vast landscape, breaking the deafening silence of his

  • Cross-utilization training solving problems for McChord Airmen

    After a year of cuts in both manning and fiscal resources, the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here had to develop a creative way to keep the mission going strong by educating Airmen in other Air Force specialty codes (AFSCs) to assist the currently undermanned aircraft hydraulics section.

  • Israeli air force training

    Maj. Kevin Coughlin, the 48th Airlift Squadron flight commander and an instructor pilot, had the opportunity to travel far from Little Rock AFB to train Israeli aircrew members beyond the initial training level.

  • F-35 arrival begins new era at weapons school

    A new era began at the U.S. Air Force Weapons School when its first F-35A Lightning II touched-down on the flightline here Jan. 15, flown straight from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

  • Building strategic relationships

    The Air Force’s ability to continue building partnerships to meet challenges of future warfare directly involves Airmen and Soldiers who are focused on building partnership capacity throughout Southwest Asia. As the result of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),

  • New deicing simulator saves money, manpower, increases training

    With the winter months comes freezing temperatures, snow, frost and ice, but despite the inclement weather the mission continues, making aircraft deicing a main priority for maintainers.This year, to increase training capabilities and save money and manpower, the 92nd Maintenance Group installed a

  • Kabul Afghan Airmen complete FAST training

    As American security forces transition to Resolute Support, it is important that Afghan security forces can secure their own country. Recently another step was taken in this direction when eight Afghan air force security forces airmen graduated the first Kabul Air Wing Fly-Away Security Team

  • End of an era signals new beginnings for security forces

    Ninety-five security forces Airmen from around the country attended the last 99th Ground Combat Training Squadron's Base Security Operations course Dec. 6-20, at the Silver Flag Alpha Range Complex, outside of Las Vegas.

  • RED HORSE joins Navy, local Guam engineers for concrete course

    Several Airmen from the 554th RED HORSE Squadron and Guam Air National Guard's 254th RED HORSE Squadron teamed up with U.S. Navy Sailors from Naval Base Guam to participate in the island's first joint concrete American Concrete Institute (ACI) field concrete testing program Dec. 9-12.

  • AF delivers Iraqi F-16s for training in US

    For more than 65 years the Air Force has embraced the concept of flexibility being the key to airpower. Now Airmen from the Arizona Air National Guard are sharing that capacity to find creative ways to overcome problems with one of the Air Force's newest allies – the Iraqi air force.

  • An Air Force dynamic duo

    The shop is full of constant howling, bones and bouncy balls scattered on the floor, and a pungent smell. The king of this domain is a four-legged creature that lies on a couch and greets people with a slobbery lick.It's just another day for Staff Sgt. Andre Hernandez, a 7th Security Forces Squadron

  • Joint force hot pitting saves time, money

    Airmen from the 366th Logistics Readiness Squadron petroleum, oil and lubricant flight here, recently work alongside the U.S. Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 129 (VAQ-129) to help develop and implement a "hot pit" refueling process for Navy EA-18G Growlers, which frequent the base.

  • Aviano stays 'Forward, Ready, Now' with joint exercise

    The 555th Fighter Squadron hosted a weeklong exercise with the U.S. and Netherlands joint tactical air controllers here Dec. 2, as a part of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces in Africa's "Forward, Ready, Now" initiative.

  • Train together, fight together

    It takes more than one military branch to defend America's freedoms as joint tactics play a key role in today’s warfighting missions.

  • Faith in training

    For an aircrew member, it is one of the worst-case scenarios. When faced with a crash landing or after being shot down, a crew might be forced to eject as a last resort – even if it’s over open water or enemy territory.

  • Innovating education: New commander of Air University challenges Airmen

    The new commander and president of Air University charged all assigned Airmen to think of ways to reinvent military education at AU as well as leverage the intellectual potential of the university. He challenged AU Airmen to offer innovative solutions to address problems facing the Air Force in a

  • Survival instructor keeps F-35 training afloat

    Within the 33rd Fighter Wing, innovation doesn't end at the flightline, but finds its way into a 12-foot swimming pool where new F-35 Lighting II pilots are now able to seamlessly complete their water survival training.

  • New lieutenants give back to Academy Prep School

    Every year, the U.S. Air Force Academy adds to the ever-growing Long Blue Line of graduates. The new second lieutenants, after having spent the last four years together, scatter across the world. Few will return to the Academy in a professional context.

  • Services continue strong recruiting through September

    All four active services met or exceeded their numerical accession goals for fiscal year 2014 through September, and each service also exceeded Department of Defense quality benchmarks for new recruits, DOD officials announced Nov. 10.

  • An Air Force first: ALO graduates Ranger School

    On average, more than 4,000 Soldiers go through the U.S. Army Ranger School each year. The number of Airmen who have completed the course since its inception in 1950 is only a little over 300.

  • Vance flight simulators go HD

    Instead of flying in a computer-generated world reminiscent of a Windows 95 graphics reproduction, Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training students will take to the simulated blue skies in high definition, beginning Oct 27.

  • Wolf Pack soars at RED FLAG-Alaska 15-1

    Airmen from the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, recently participated in Red Flag-Alaska (RF-A)15-1 from Oct. 6 to 17at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

  • Aircrew members traverse combat survival training challenges

    Placed in the middle of the woods, pursued by an unknown number of adversaries, and the day's last light sinking beyond the horizon is exactly the type of setting survival, evasion, resistance and escape, or SERE, instructors hope to train aircrew members in.The setting is the training ground for

  • Undergrad flying training applications due in December

    The 2015 undergraduate flying training selection board originally scheduled for Jan. 20-23 will now convene Feb. 17-20 and associated application suspenses have shifted by approximately one month, Air Force Personnel Center officials said Oct. 10.

  • Altus AFB produces mission capable boom operators

    For the past 16 years, the 97th Air Mobility Wing has been the only schoolhouse for training initial KC-135 Stratotanker boom operator students, which trains around 265 Airmen and international students a year.

  • Global Strike provides deterrence for the modern era

    The Air Force recently demonstrated its nuclear deterrence and power projection capabilities through a coordinated display of strategic combat power.Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen -- responsible for two legs of the nation's nuclear triad -- conducted the demonstrations, which included

  • Surviving the altitude

    Many issues may arise when flying as aircrew, including hypoxia, which can be life-threatening if the proper procedures are not taken to correct it.

  • AF firefighters qualify to train Central American counterparts

    Twelve members from the 612th Air Base Squadron Fire Emergency Services completed the Air Advisor Academy’s five-day academic mobile training team course Sept. 15-19, to become the first group to receive air advisor training qualified to provide partner nation firefighting training.

  • Simulators train aircrew at fraction of cost

    Using simulators for the majority of pilot training is a huge advantage. They operate at about 5 percent of the cost of real jets. One hour of flying in a C-17 costs approximately $23,424 -- a substantial difference compared to the simulator.

  • Mauritania partnership flight wraps up

    The last full day of African Partnership Flight Mauritania was filled with a group intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance planning exercise, an ISR field capstone event, and the arrival of two Mauritanian Super Tucanos and a Cessna-208 Grand Caravan, Sept. 3, at Atar Airbase, here.

  • Ramstein Airmen conclude operations in Poland

    With a flurry of grass and dirt, a C-130J Super Hercules touched down on a grass runway at Powidz Air Base, Poland, marking the final week of deployed operations here, Aug. 25. For Airmen deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, this was their home away from home for 60 days.

  • Changes to academic degree and developmental education expectations

    Air Force officials announced actions designed to set clear expectations, restore Airmen's time and refocus officer promotions on job performance.The Air Force has addressed long-standing perceptions that to be promoted, officers must complete an advanced academic degree, and those officers selected

  • Medical experts train counterparts in Mongolia

    The sounds of agony filled the air near the wooded back lot of the Central Armed Forces Hospital, or CAFH, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as an interpreter encouraged accident victims to ‘ham up’ their performances during mass casualty response training, as part of Operation Pacific Angel 14-4 Mongolia.

  • First pipeline F-35 crew chiefs graduate

    Nine Airmen became the first Air Force recruits to graduate initial skills technical training as F-35 Lightning II crew chiefs after completing Mission-Ready Airmen training here Aug. 7."The opportunity to be the first of something so important means a lot. I know many people are looking at us to be

  • New rotation takes reigns at Powidz AB, Poland

    With a shrill squeal, rubber met road as two C-130J Super Hercules' touched down Aug. 14, at Powidz Air Base, Poland -- their crews ready to begin a flying training deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, or OAR.

  • Greece, US plan for successful air training

    They had been in the room for nearly six hours. The planners scoured the map of Greece, searching for just the right area to place an enemy missile defense system, or an enemy airfield, or one of hundreds of other highly defended military targets

  • US partners with Greece for bilateral training

    Nearly 20 U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 480th Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, deployed to Souda Bay, Greece, for bilateral training with the Hellenic air force Aug. 11-23.

  • Wounded warriors wrap up Warrior Games training

    Over 60 wounded veterans from across the country participated in the final Warrior and Invictus Games training camp here Aug. 3-7 to prepare for the fall games, motivate others and take a healthy step toward recovery.

  • Mission-ready Airman course graduates 11,000 strong

    The 372nd Training Squadron’s Detachment 12 graduated its 11,000th mission-ready Airman, or MRA, here recently. With their training complete at Luke Air Force Base, the newly-graduated crew chiefs will be able to use their specialized skills at their first permanent assignment.

  • Overcoming fear: Airman’s training takes over during firefight

    The bad guys, however, were not sleeping. Under the cover of darkness, a small force determined to attack the Kabul Airport and Afghan air force Base next to it, took over a multi-story building under construction just north of the target. Armed with multiple rocket propelled grenades, automatic

  • Airmen wrap up African partnership program

    U.S. and African partners concluded a weeklong collaboration event with eight regional air forces in Dakar, Senegal June 20, aimed at strengthening relationships between the air forces and encouraging an exchange of ideas.

  • U.S., Polish Airmen support largest combined training

    U.S. and Polish airmen started training together at Lask Air Base, Poland, June 2, during the largest theater security cooperation event ever hosted by the U.S. Air Force Aviation Detachment in Poland, according to Av-Det officials.

  • Airmen advise Afghan air force

    Airmen from the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing/NATO Air Training Command - Afghanistan, are playing a vital role in Operation Enduring Freedom as advisers tasked with aiding the Afghan government in establishing an operational and sustainable Afghan air force.

  • F-16s train alongside F-35s

    F-16s from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, flew air-to-air combat training missions with F-35As assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

  • Aviation detachment keeps US-Polish training running smoothly

    "All the expectations you have for a normal assignment -- throw those out the window," said Maj. Micah Chollar, the director of operations for the Detachment of the 52nd Operations Group. "We have to analyze who we have, what our guys bring to the table and what we can do to overcome any challenges

  • Maintenance Airmen encompass Forward, Ready, Now

    With a designated flightline office space, the self-proclaimed "quiet professionals" from the 31st Fighter Wing are continuing to support the 555th Fighter Squadron, both of Aviano Air Base, Italy, during their participation in an international training mission hosted by the Polish air force here.

  • Air Advisors train Afghan pilots and maintainers

    Afghan pilots and aircraft maintainers are a vital part of the Afghan National Air Force and increase its operational capabilities, and with the aid of a group of U.S. advisors, they are making huge strides in that direction.

  • US begins training sorties in Poland

    U.S. Fighting Falcons assigned to the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy, began off-site aerial training for the first time since their arrival at Detachment 1, 52nd Operations Group here, March 18.