Defense

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Air Force will miss its annual enlisted recruiting goal across all three components for the first time since 1999, as waning interest in military service and administrative hurdles continue to plague efforts to train the next generation of troops. The active duty Air Force made it about 90% of the way to its goal of 26,877 enlisted recruits, falling short by nearly…

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Top Defense Department officials at an Air Force conference this week repeatedly decried — at times in direct and colorful language — a senator’s wide-ranging hold on confirmations of general officers and called on him to lift it. The comments at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference here continued the Pentagon’s recent pattern of…

STUTTGART, Germany — Recent sea trials of a remotely operated underwater vehicle proved it is capable of neutralizing naval mines, a new milestone for the Franco-British Maritime Mine Countermeasures program, French firm Thales announced Wednesday. The program’s prime contractor and lead system integrator successfully demonstrated this final component of its system for the MMCM program, dubbed…

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Air Force in fiscal 2024 will experiment with further changes to how it deploys airmen, service leaders announced at the Air and Space Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference here this week. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Monday the service is creating three “air task forces,” or packages of airmen that the Air Force can offer to…