Air Force

Latest Stories

An F-16, below, escorts two F-35 jets, above, after arriving at it new operational base Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, at Hill Air Force Base, in northern Utah. Two F-35 jets touched down Wednesday afternoon at the base, about 20 miles north of Salt Lake City. A total of 72 of the fighter jets and their pilots will be permanently based in Utah. The Air Force says the F-35s are replacing the older F-16 with greater speed and combat range and lower maintenance costs due to a computerized self-test system.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

New fighter jets arrive at Utah’s Hill Air Force Base

Associated Press

This Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter conducts an approach on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, 40 miles off San Diego, Calif. The Navy has completed the first two landings of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, a milestone for the new plane. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Andy Wolfe)

A-10 vs. F-35: Air Force to test combat jets in head-to-head showdown

By Andrew Blake - The Washington Times

The first F-35B fighter jet attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 arrives at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Yuma, Ariz., on Nov. 16, 2012. (Associated Press/The Yuma Sun, Craig Fry) **FILE**

Marine F-35 jets deemed ready for combat

By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2012 file photo, a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter takes off from Kadena Air Base on the southern island of Okinawa in Japan. In its first months of combat in the skies above Iraq and Syria in 2015, the F-22 has been more of an escort role, using its high-tech sensors and communications to guide and protect other fighters that are actually dropping the bombs. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File)

Stealthy jet ensures other war-fighting aircraft survive

By LOLITA C. BALDOR - Associated Press

Illustration on the costs of the F-35 fighter plane by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

JED BABBIN: The deadly F-35 strike fighter

By Jed Babbin

Debris from a F-16 fighter jet and plane collision scatter the ground near Moncks Corner, S.C., Tuesday, July 7, 2015. People aboard the smaller Cessna were killed, and the plane was completely destroyed, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said. (WCIV-TV via AP)

2 bodies found from collision of plane, F-16 jet

By Susanne M. Schafer - Associated Press

Emergency personnel from Berkeley County stand outside a campground surrounded by police tape near Moncks Corner, S.C., Tuesday, July 7, 2015, after an F-16 fighter jet smashed into a small plane over South Carolina. (Brad Nettles/The Post and Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

NTSB: 2 killed when F-16, small plane crash; jet pilot safe

By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER - Associated Press

Rescuers search for victims at the site where an Indonesian Air Force cargo plane crashed in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday, July 1, 2015. The Hercules C-130 plane has crashed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Crashed Indonesian plane may have suffered engine problem

By Niniek Karmini - Associated Press

Rescuers search for victims at the site where an Indonesian air force transport plane crashed in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday, July 1, 2015. The Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city on June 30. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Indonesia plane crash death toll rises to 141 as search effort ends

By Niniek Karmini - Associated Press

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, June 28, 2015. The rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station broke apart shortly after liftoff. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

McCain: SpaceX explosion no reason to ease Russian rocket ban

By Jeffrey Scott Shapiro - The Washington Times

Retired Air Force reserve tech Sgt. Ed Kienle, 73, pauses during an interview at his home, Thursday, June 11, 2015, in Wilmington, Ohio. The government says U.S. Air Force reservists who became ill after being exposed to Agent Orange residue while working on planes after the Vietnam War would be eligible for disability benefits. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

U.S. to pay millions for Agent Orange claims

By Hope Yen - Associated Press

Retired Air Force reserve tech Sgt. Ed Kienle, 73, pauses during an interview at his home, Thursday, June 11, 2015, in Wilmington, Ohio. The government says U.S. Air Force reservists who became ill after being exposed to Agent Orange residue while working on planes after the Vietnam War would be eligible for disability benefits. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

VA seeks to offer aid to some Air Force C-123 reservists

By HOPE YEN - Associated Press

This Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter conducts an approach on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, 40 miles off San Diego, Calif. The Navy has completed the first two landings of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, a milestone for the new plane. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Andy Wolfe)

Air Force, Navy restocked with planes, missiles as Congress counters U.S. air power decline

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

Russian army bombers fly over Grand Kremlin Palace during a Victory Parade rehearsal in Moscow. (Associated Press)

Russian bomber flights buzzing U.S. airspace doubled last year

By Jeffrey Scott Shapiro - The Washington Times

Jim Kirk, a World War II veteran and B-17G ball turret gunner, reacts to holding a 50-cal. machine gun during the Gathering of Eagles event on Friday, June 5, 2015, at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. (Albert Cesare/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

Aviators honored at annual ‘Gathering of Eagles’ in Alabama

By REBECCA BURYLO - Associated Press

The U.S. Air Force plans to use lessons learned from bee behavior to create algorithms for fleets of swarming drones. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Air Force sees early success with swarming mini-drone technology

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

In this photo provided by WDAZ-WDAY TV Grand Forks-Fargo, police investigate the scene of a shooting at a Wal-Mart Supercenter store Tuesday, May 26, 2015, in Grand Forks, N.D. Grand Forks Police said the deadly shooting occurred a few minutes after 1 a.m. (Matt Henson/WDAZ-WDAY TV Grand Forks-Fargo via AP)

Autopsy to determine if Wal-Mart gunman in North Dakota took drugs, alcohol

By Blake Nicholson and James MacPherson - Associated Press

This undated image attached to an email sent Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2001 by Bruce Ivins shows Ivins handling &quot;cultures of the now infamous 'Ames' strain of Bacillus anthracis&quot; at his lab according to the text of the message. The Government Accountability Office says the science the FBI used to investigate the 2001 anthrax attacks was flawed. The GAO released a report Friday on its findings. The agency didn't take a position on the FBI's conclusion that Army biodefense researcher Bruce Ivins acted alone in making and sending the powdered spores that killed five people and sickened 17 others. The report adds fuel to the debate among experts, including many of Ivins' co-workers at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, over whether Ivins could have made and mailed the anthrax-filled envelopes. (AP Photo) **FILE**

Defense Dept. sends live anthrax sample to Maryland lab

By Jacqueline Klimas - The Washington Times

NUMBER 1. BOEING AH-64 APACHE is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 Chain Gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's forward fuselage. It has four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons, typically carrying a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has a large amount of systems redundancy to improve combat survivability. An air weapons team of two AH-64D Apaches from the 1st "Attack" Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, come in for a landing at Camp Taji, Iraq, after completing a reconnaissance mission in the skies over Baghdad Nov. 6. Photo by Chief Warrant Officer 4 Daniel McClinton, 1st ACB, 1st Cav. Div.

Army told to get tougher with China, quit deferring to U.S. Navy in Asia

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times

In this photo provided by Eglin Air Force Base Public Affairs shows Brian Williams, an Air Force Wounded Warrior athlete as prepares to throw the discus during introductory adaptive sports and rehabilitation camp at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., April 14, 2015. Airmen gathered in the Florida Panhandle for a training camp hoping to defeat the Army, Marines and Navy next month at the 2015 Department of Defense Wounded Warrior Games in Quantico, Virginia. (Samuel King Jr. /Eglin Air Force Base via AP)

Severely injured vets find healing, hope through sports

By MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL - Associated Press