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Air Force cadets are being told to address people in ways that “include all genders” — dropping the use of “boyfriend or girlfriend” and even “mom and dad.” Diversity and inclusion (D&I) training at the Air Force Academy in Colorado includes instruction on how to “use inclusive language,” according to documents shared by Fox News Digital. “Use words that include all genders,” the training material tells cadets, warning them to “ask” people what they “call themselves” rather than assuming. Instead of saying “you guys,” cadets are told to use gender-neutral terms like “team,” “squaddies,” “folks” and even “y’all.” “Some families...

The US Air Force will unveil its next-generation stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, during the first week of December, lifting the tight cloak of secrecy that has surrounded the aircraft's development. Northrop Grumman and the Air Force confirmed the timeline for unveiling the B-21 on Tuesday, saying that it will offer an 'exclusive view' of the aircraft at the company's facility in Palmdale, California. The bomber, which will be nuclear-capable, will cost about $639 million per plane, and the Pentagon plans to buy at least 100 of them to complement and eventually replace the aging B-2 Spirit. 'The B-21 is...

Speed can do many things for an aircraft. It can allow an airplane to get to its target quickly and complete its bombing run. Speed can help outmaneuver enemy fighters and shoot them down. It enables survivability to outfox air defense systems. Spy planes such as the SR-71 Blackbird could really boogey. The Blackbird had MACH 3 speed that allowed the bird to outrun surface-to-air missiles. That’s 36.55 miles per minute or 3,216.4 feet per second. In fact, when the SR-71 streaked by, SAMs could barely lock on to target, and if they did the Blackbird was already out of...

Enlisted airmen who work in some of the Air Force's most difficult jobs will receive from $900 to $5,400 less annually beginning next month as the service faces financial challenges that affect the ranks. Hundreds of service members will see cuts to their Special Duty Assignment Pay, known as SDAP, in fiscal 2023 -- which starts Oct. 1. Those monthly payments, ranging from $75 to $450, were an extra incentive "to compensate enlisted service members who serve in duties which are extremely difficult," according to budget documents. [Snip] To avoid the cuts, lawmakers would have to reinstate the Special Duty...

Does it really have the radar signature of a bumble bee? The U.S. Air Force thinks so. I am talking, of course, about the F-22, a $108 billion program that at the time of its development was the most advanced fighter in the world. The F-22, though, is expensive to fly and maintain. It sets the Air Force back $68,000 per hour of flight – more than the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F-16C Fighting Falcon. Why did the U.S. military insist on buying it despite the cost? The main reasons are its stealthiness; its supercruise, or ability to fly...

The H-20 Stealth Bomber: An Ominous Sign of Chinese Airpower Projection? – As if it weren’t bad enough that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to make strides with its 5th Generation Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter – and flaunts that J-20 via intimidation exercises against Taiwan — the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is evidently also making strides in the arena of next-generation strategic stealth bombers. So then, what exactly do we know about China’s prospective H-20 bomber?

How Many B-21 Raider Bombers Are Needed? At some point in the future, officials from the Department of the Air Force will likely be seated in a House subcommittee in our nation’s capital and asked a blunt question from United States lawmakers: How many B-21 Raider bombers do you actually need? Some U.S. Air Force officials are already pondering that query. Current plans call for the service to operate at least 100 long-range strategic bombers, but there have been calls for the Air Force to acquire upwards of 179 or more.

The late, great Sean Connery offered several classic “one-liners” in his lengthy career, and among the best was in 1996’s The Rock, when as a former MI-6 operative, he states bluntly, “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen.” The YF-23 Story Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor can be seen as the winner in this case, and while it never had such relations with a prom queen, it has earned a reputation as the most capable air superiority fighter ever to fly. The “loser” was the Northrop-McDonnell Douglas YF-23, an experimental aircraft that competed in...

The F-15EX Eagle II Soaring High After Weapons System Evaluation – Earlier this month, the United States Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 6 team members participated in two of the first developmental and operational test missile shots from the Boeing F-15EX. For the exercise, Engineers and analysts from the AFOTEC Detachment 6 F-15 division traveled to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) and Tyndall AFB, both in Florida, to draw results from the AIM-120D and AIM-120C3 missile shots performed as part of the Weapons System Evaluation Program (WSEP) conducted by Eglin’s 53rd Wing. These missile shots highlighted how...

The jigsaw puzzle of William Howard Hughes Jr.'s life has many missing pieces. After disappearing into thin air in 1983 he was wanted across the globe by numerous agencies, from the Air Force to the FBI to Interpol. At one point it was thought that he defected to the Russians. Some suggested he sabotaged the disastrous Challenger space shuttle launch. Even after his recent capture, much of this unlikely story remains a mystery for the ages. Here’s what we found out. Born in Seattle in 1950 to a father who worked in the airline industry, Hughes had three sisters. He...

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- A federal judge in the Southern District of Ohio extended the time that the Air Force and the Air Force Academy could not enforce the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Thursday. Two weeks ago, Judge Matthew W. McFarland placed a temporary restraining order on the AF and AFA that barred them from enforcing the mandate temporarily. Now, a court order means they cannot enforce the mandate until a trial is held or the order is struck down on appeal. Both of which are potentially months down the road. The preliminary injunction order states, "due to...

The United States and allies are starting to examine possible training for Ukrainian pilots as part of a long-term effort to potentially help Kyiv build a future Ukrainian air force, Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles "CQ" Brown told Reuters. With the West's provision of anti-aircraft weaponry, Ukraine has been able to prevent Russia from using its far more advanced air force to establish dominance in the skies since Moscow's invasion began on Feb. 24. Advertisement · Scroll to continue But Ukraine has also sought to move away from its dependence on Russian aircraft by securing U.S. fighter jets...

A senior US military scientist working on advanced propulsion technologies allegedly tricked a contractor into hiring an unqualified sex worker — who then went on to service other scientists at the Air Force base. Dr. James Gord, a highly decorated civilian Air Force employee who died last September due to unspecified causes, had allegedly paid the 32-year-old sex worker $400 an hour for her services using a government charge card, according to a recently unsealed search warrant application obtained by the Daily Beast. According to federal investigators, Gord convinced Sukesh Roy, chief executive of Spectral Energies, a contractor based at...

Thursday, a federal judge in Cincinnati issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the U.S. Air Force from enforcing the military vaccine mandate. According to court documents, obtained by 13 Investigates, the temporary restraining order applies to AFA cadets and Air Force service men and women for the next 14 days. The pause comes from a Federal Judge in Cincinnati after he determined the Air Force had been systematically refusing to grant religious exemptions to almost everybody who applied. The injunction reads: “The facts show Defendants have engaged in a pattern of denying religious accommodation requests.” According to the court documents,...

There are times when defendants are forced to use strategies that expose others to wrongdoing. The case of Pfizer outing the U.S. government for their knowledge of wrongdoing is a doozy. ... the lawyer representing whistleblower Brook Jackson said Pfizer is arguing the court should dismiss Jackson’s lawsuit alleging fraud in Pfizer’s COVID-19 clinical trials because the U.S. government knew about the wrongdoings but continued to do business with the vaccine maker. A lawsuit filed by whistleblower Brook Jackson alleging Pfizer and two of its contractors manipulated data and committed other acts of fraud during Pfizer’s COVID-19 clinical trials is...

A District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Thursday morning issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Air Force from enforcing the vaccine mandate against any airman who has filed a request for a religious accommodation, according to court documents. Judge Matthew W. McFarland granted a motion brought by airmen to extend a court order from March that prohibited the Air Force from disciplining or separating plaintiffs fighting the mandate based on their religious beliefs to all airmen who filed requests for religious accommodation as a “class.” The court order is a temporary restraining order (TRO), which is...

Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group bought 300 acres of land near Grand Forks, North Dakota, to set up a milling plant. The project is located about 20 minutes from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, raising national security concerns. ... At first glance, the largely barren, wind-swept tract of land just north of Grand Forks, North Dakota, seems to be an unlikely location for international espionage. There’s not much on the more than 300-acre patch of prime Dakota farmland right now other than dirt and tall grasses, bordered by highways and light industrial facilities on the outskirts of the city....

The Air Force’s sixth generation fighter has officially entered development, the Air Force’s top official confirmed today. “We have now started an [engineering, manufacturing and development] program to do the development aircraft that we’ll take into production,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during an event at the Heritage Foundation. “We think we’ll have the capability by the end of the decade.” Due to the classified nature of the design effort, Kendall provided few details about the manned sixth-generation fighter that is set to be the centerpiece of the Air Force’s so-called Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, which...

The United States Air Force on Wednesday tweeted out a graphic with “#CELEBRATEPRIDE” and a female airman saluting with rainbow colors on her hand to celebrate the beginning of Pride Month. “Happy Pride Month! We are the best #USAF by leveraging the diverse backgrounds & strengths of each member of our total force. We are committed to making the #AirForce a place where we all can reach their full potential. #PRIDE #PrideMonth,” the tweet said.

The near certainty the United States would be drawn into WW II prompted creation of an autonomous Army Air Force. Until the war in Europe began, dominate Army doctrine gave the air corps no mission beyond supporting the ground forces. In opposition to this entrenched position, Giulio Douhet, an Italian general, and air power theorist, maintained air power could shatter civilian moral and elicit demands to surrender by destroying a country’s vital centers. Now air power advocates fought and won the Pentagon battle for the authority to prove the theory that bombers could win wars.The instruments for this initiative in...