Free Republic

A combination of budget constraints, strategic realignment, and the evolution of warfare in the decades since the A-10’s debut has contributed to the aircraft’s retirement. After four decades of service, the renowned A-10 Warthog is finally slated for full retirement. After years of indecision, the US Air Force now plans to retire the A-10 fleet before the end of FY2026. The last A-10 is expected to make its last flight before October 2026, a sad day in aviation that will mark the end of an aircraft that aviation enthusiasts and ground troops alike have adored for a generation. The A-10...

Inside the government, some officials called her “Wayward Storm.” Her real name was Monica Elfriede Witt, an exemplary Air Force counterintelligence agent who had studied Persian and carried out covert missions in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. But by mid-2013, Ms. Witt had become disillusioned with the government — why, exactly, remains a mystery — and had left the military. Thoughts of betrayal consumed her, federal prosecutors now say, until she finally acted on them at the Iranian Embassy in Kabul, where they say she “told all.”

A US Air Force officer has defected to Iran and shared information that could cause "serious damage" to America's national security, officials have revealed. The former Air Force intelligence specialist was charged with espionage and was accused of working for Iran, according to an unsealed federal indictment. The announcement arrived after Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers and other senior officials held a call with reporters to discuss what they called “a national security related action involving Iran”. Mr Demers was joined by US Attorney for Washington, Jessie Liu, FBI Executive Assistant Director for National Security Jay Tabb,...

Recent satellite imagery reveals a substantial influx of U.S. aircraft Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Satellite imagery taken on June 19 of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia reveals a significant buildup of military aircraft. Over the past week, U.S. and Allied Air Forces have been amassing at the base, which now hosts at least: 54 F-16 fighter jets 22 KC-135 refueling tankers 11 C-130 transport aircraft Several other aircraft parked on taxiways and in shelters About 30 US Air Force tanker aircraft left USA on evening of Sunday 15 June 2025

he U.S. Navy is sending the supercarrier USS Nimitz and the rest of its strike group to the Middle East amid a new buildup of forces in the region ostensibly for defensive purposes, U.S. officials have told TWZ. Overnight, dozens of U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers had already been tracked heading east over the Atlantic Ocean. That has prompted speculation about the potential start of a major contingency operation, possibly around a shift in U.S. policy toward the ongoing Israel-Iran war, as you can read about in more detail here.U.S. air, naval, and ground forces have already been...

Boeing’s Air Force One project has fallen years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget amid continued labor and design hiccups. The Government Accountability Office said in a report this week that “ongoing design issues, modification rework, and workforce challenges” are still plaguing the manufacturer. The Trump administration has resorted to procuring a $400 million jet from Qatar to serve as the interim Air Force One. Boeing is continuing to battle production issues plaguing the jets that will serve as Air Force One, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The Pentagon told the congressional auditors that “ongoing design...

Aseismic shift has occurred in the Trump administration’s new defense spending plan that is just emerging when it comes to the USAF’s airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) predicament. The service’s E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft are dwindling in number and rapidly aging into unsupportability. The proven and in-production E-7 Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737 and serving with multiple allies, was supposed to bridge the gap between the E-3’s retirement and pushing the sending part of the mission to space-based distributed satellite constellations. You can read all about this here. Now, if the administration gets...

Israel has launched what it called “preemptive strikes” against Iran and a state of emergency has been declared in Israel, according to the country’s Defense Minister Israel Katz. “Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future” Katz said in a statement. Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported repeated explosions could be heard in Tehran.

While the media and military have been silent, what the Navy did against a Houthi attack is pretty magnificent. Has the U.S. grown ashamed of its military victories? There are reasons to believe this is true. In April 1988, the U.S. Navy effectively destroyed the Iranian navy following a mine attack on the destroyer USS Roberts. The Navy sank an Iranian frigate, four armed speedboats, blew up two armed oil platforms, and damaged another frigate in one of the shortest and most successful campaigns of the postwar period. Yet even today, there is no actual name attached to the engagement....

Air Force Special Operations Command's top enlisted airman was removed from his post Monday amid an investigation. Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green, AFSOC'S command chief, was relieved by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Mike Conley, the command said in a statement.

For the first time in its history, the U.S. Air Force has designated two prototype drones as unmanned fighter aircraft, marking a new era in aerial warfare. The YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, developed by General Atomics and Anduril, respectively, are the harbingers of a new chapter in military strategy, one where human pilots are no longer the sole aces in the skies. These drones, part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, are designed to fly alongside manned fifth- and sixth-generation fighters like the F-35. Affectionately called “loyal wingmen, the drones are supposed to augment the human-piloted jets in missions ranging...

President Donald Trump has fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a Truth Social post on Friday evening, Trump announced he was nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine to replace Brown. Trump thanked Brown for his service, calling him a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, wishing him and his family a great future. “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” wrote Trump.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he had ordered the firings of the boards of visitors for all of the U.S. military’s service academies, the outside advisory panels that help oversee academic programs and student life, saying that the government’s training grounds for military officers had been invaded by so-called “woke” ideology. “Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard.” The president did not immediately announce the appointment...

This is practically UNHEARD OF. Pete Hegseth sent a warning to the cartels saying “all options are on the table.” President Trump demanded 100% operational control of the border, and Hegseth is delivering.

JUST IN: Syria's capital city Damascus has fallen to rebels, and Syrian President Assad has reportedly fled to an unknown destination, per CNN. “Militarily, Damascus has fallen,” CNN has said.

A Florida GOP congressional candidate was recently secretly recorded threatening Republican rival Anna Paulina Luna with “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” that would make her “disappear.” That’s according to a recording obtained by Politico that comes from a conservative activist who says she taped her conversation with William Braddock over concerns about his “unhinged” dislike of his competitor. During a 30-minute call with a conservative activist that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned the activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seat because...

Unidentified drones have been spotted flying over three bases used by the United States Air Force in Britain, the two countries have confirmed. The objects were seen between Wednesday and Saturday flying over the Royal Air Force’s Lakenheath, Mildenhall and Feltwell bases, all used by the US Air Force (USAF). “The number of (unmanned aircraft systems) fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration,” a spokesperson for the US Air Forces in Europe said in a statement. The three bases are located within a few miles of each other in eastern England. Since 1992, Mildenhall has been home to the only permanent...

The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason, the two sources...

Skynet-1A being launched in 1969. Image Credit: NASA, Image ID: KSC-69P-0941 via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain, Modified by IFLScience Amilitary spacecraft launched 55 years ago was moved from its orbit – and nobody is quite sure who did it, or why. In 1969 the UK launched Skynet-1A, a military communications satellite placed in orbit above the east coast of Africa in order to relay information to British armed forces. It stopped working due to hardware issues around 18 months after it started operating, and the spacecraft was left to the laws of physics to orbit the Earth – it is...

The Israeli strikes on Iran hit several of Tehran’s most advanced air defenses, exposing Iran’s vulnerability to future attacks as the two enemies engage in a new era of direct confrontation. During the hourslong attack early Saturday, Israeli warplanes struck Iranian military assets in three provinces, including three Russian-supplied aerial defense systems known as S-300, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. A fourth aerial defense system was also hit. An Israeli official added that all the air-defense systems were rendered unusable.