Defense

WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Air Force has told lawmakers that F-16 fighter jets NATO is sending to Ukraine will mostly be effective in the long term as the war-torn country works to integrate them into the broader military. Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force vice chief of staff on tap for a promotion to serve as the service’s No. 1 officer, said at his Senate…

The Air Force will fall short of its fiscal 2023 pilot training goal by about 120 airmen, missing its annual target of around 1,500 new aviators for the eighth consecutive year, the service confirmed Sept. 8. A slew of maintenance woes, staffing issues and other unexpected setbacks led the Air Force to pin wings on around 1,350 airmen rather than its aspirational goal of 1,470. The shortfall makes…

The Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean in a routine test early Wednesday, the service said in a release. The missile was fired from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, around 1:30 a.m. local time, and traveled about 4,200 miles to the Marshall Islands, where the U.S. has conducted nuclear weapons tests for decades. Test…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s plan to field a next-generation refueling tanker by the mid-2030s could be in jeopardy if the service has to operate under lengthy continuing resolutions, a top service official said Tuesday. Andrew Hunter, the assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in an interview with Defense News at the Pentagon that a lengthy continuing…