2024 USAF & USSF Almanac: Installations

Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel nearly one year ago caught the world by surprise—including Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, the U.S. military’s top logistics officer. But the Oct. 7 crisis, which spiraled into a war now on the cusp of its second year, illuminated fresh lessons in emergency response and…

Air Force Special Operations Command will find ways to use the OA-1K Armed Overwatch plane in great power competition, commander Lt. Gen. Michael E. Conley said this week, amid questions about the fleet’s size and utility in a changing strategic environment. 

It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.

PACAF commander Gen. Kevin Schneider wants the new E-7 Wedgetail "sooner rather than later" and plans on leveraging Australia's E-7s and Japanese E-2s for a smooth transition. Schneider also says air domain awareness should be a layered solution, stressing ground-based capabilities.

The proliferation of commercial satellites is changing the character of war, a panel of military experts said at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 18.

The Air Force on Sept. 18 warned that a failure to pass a new budget for the federal government for part or all of fiscal 2025 could degrade military readiness and slow the arrival of critical equipment as Congress ticks toward a shutdown in less than two weeks.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe is testing more uses for drones to extend its Arctic surveillance, emphasizing that while sharing information might be “the easiest and cheapest” option, it’s far from enough, its leader said.

The Space Force is preparing to award billions of dollars in launch contracts by the end of this year—provided Congress passes a budget. By the end of 2024, Space Systems Command wants to award a contract for the next phase of its National Security Space Launch program. It also wants…

The secretive new B-21 bomber is flying as much as twice a week in flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and ground tests of two other aircraft are also proceeding well, program officials revealed at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.