Free Republic

Recent events, including the “Operation Midnight Hammer” B-2 strike on Iran, have highlighted the urgent need for the US Air Force to acquire a much larger fleet of stealth bombers. The current force of only 19 B-2s is stretched thin. Compounding the issue, significant delays in the B-52J modernization program mean those aircraft may not be ready until 2030 or later.

The successful “Operation Midnight Hammer” strike on Iran, where just seven B-2 Spirit bombers devastated key nuclear sites, highlights a critical lesson for the U.S. Air Force: it needs more stealth bombers, and fast. The current fleet of only 19 B-2s, a fraction of the 132 originally planned, was severely strained to execute the mission. This small fleet size creates significant risks when facing multiple global threats.

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

A retired NASA flight surgeon claims he saw footage of a 20-foot-wide flying saucer with a US Air Force logo performing advanced maneuvers in a military hangar over 30 years ago. Dr. Gregory Rogers, a former NASA Chief Flight Surgeon and Air Force Major, shared his story amid growing whistleblower reports about secretive UFO programs. “I know exactly what I saw that day, and it was in no fashion a conventional flying vehicle,” Rogers, 68, told the Daily Mail. In 1992, while stationed at Cape Canaveral, an Air Force major led him to a locked room and showed him CCTV...

A secretive US spaceship will attempt flight maneuvers above Earth that have never before been performed. We are talking about the Boeing X-37, a reusable robotic spacecraft. The X-37 is boosted into space by a launch vehicle and re-enters Earth’s atmosphere landing as a spaceplane. The project began as a NASA project back in 1999, but it was transferred to the US Department of Defense in 2004. The X-37 is presently operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with United States Space Force. It is used for ‘orbital spaceflight missions’ that are intended to...

The top enlisted leader for the 20,000-person Air Force Special Operations Command was relieved of duty for “loss in confidence in his ability to fulfill his duties,” according to a statement released by AFSOC officials. An AFSOC spokesperson told Task & Purpose that Command Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green was fired Monday as the command chief and reassigned outside of AFSOC headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida, pending the outcome of an investigation. Officials would not comment on the nature of the investigation. AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Mike Conley relieved Green, the official said. ADVERTISEMENT ▼Scroll for more▼ As the command...

The US Air Force once made plans for a 'gay bomb' that would use chemical aphrodisiacs to make enemy soldiers 'irresistibly attractive to one another.' The bizarre plan, formulated by the military's Wright Laboratory in 1994, was part of a six-year non-lethal weapons development project costing $7.5 million that was ultimately scrapped. A three-page document obtained by the Sunshine Project, an anti-biological weapons organization, details the laboratory's proposal for a bomb 'that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay.' The scientists theorized that this would make their units 'break down' because 'all their soldiers became irresistibly...

On Sunday 23 February, NBC News reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had dismissed his Senior Military Advisor, Air Force Lieutenant General Jennifer M. Short - “effective immediately.”Following the dismissals of General CQ Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James Slife, Air Force vice chief of staff, and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, as well as the three service Judge Advocate Generals. This level of turbulence in the military’s top ranks is unprecedented.This is not normal or routine – and while these appointments are naturally approved by the President, they are not political appointments,...

A book classified by the CIA for more than 50 years contains a shocking theory about how the world will end. 'The Adam and Eve Story,' written by former US Air Force employee, UFO researcher and self-acclaimed psychic Chan Thomas, was written in 1966 but its publication was halted by the agency. It was quietly declassified in 2013, at least in part, but remained hidden in the CIA's database — until now. In the book, Thomas claims that every 6,500 years, a major disaster on the scale of the Biblical 'Great Flood' strikes the Earth. While experts debate the exact...

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.

The Air Force and Northrop are testing different aspects of the B-21 while it’s in-air and are “expanding the operating envelope.” There is the main testing airplane, and two others are undergoing evaluations on the ground. The Air Force eventually want to acquire at least 100 B-21 Raiders. The stealth bomber is a dual-threat airplane that can deliver a nuclear payload or conventional munitions. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota will have the first squadron.

In fact, the F-22 is likely the world’s stealthiest fighter and has a radar cross-section that is many times smaller than the F-35. This is why Air Force watchers often yearn for the sneaky Raptor warbird to be upgraded instead of being retired. The latest upgrade contract will add to the $7.8 billion in spending by 2030 for the F-22, which includes $3.1 billion for research and development and $4.7 billion in acquisition. The F-22 Raptor first flew over 26 years ago, so it is looking for enhancements to maintain its freshness and relevance for the next few decades before...

At this moment, nearly every major Department of Defense program seems to be struggling. Technological bottlenecks, industrial capacity problems, workforce issues, and general bureaucratic confusion have produced delivery delays and cost overruns, even as the entire defense industrial base faces the challenge of competing with Russia and China. The major exception to these problems appears, surprisingly enough, to be the B-21 Raider. The purpose of the B-21 program was to produce a new generation of strategic bombers to replace the B-1B Lancer and the B-2 Spirit. The subsonic B-21 is designed to use stealth to penetrate enemy air defenses and...

In comments given to the National Interest, former Trump National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien explained that the U.S. Air Force needs 300-400 B-21 Raider stealth bombers considering the growing threat from China's rising military might.

The U.S. Air Force has formally launched a competition to build its new fighter jet, the Pentagon’s first in two decades, with the winner to be selected next year. The acquisition strategy for the Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, aircraft “incorporates lessons learned from recent Air Force acquisition programs and will leverage open architecture standards,” the Air Force said in a statement released Thursday. “This approach will enable the government to maximize competition throughout the life cycle, provide a larger, more responsive industry base, and drastically reduce maintenance and sustainment costs.” This solicitation release “formally begins the source selection...

The U.S. Air Force is cutting the list of jobs that qualify for its special bonus pay and has so far released few details about which jobs will fall victim. An Air Force board, formed to review Special Duty Assignment Pay, reduced the number of jobs that qualify for the bonus money last month, slashing the number of jobs that qualify for the pay from 103 to 70 ahead of fiscal year 2024, and has refused to disclose which jobs will no longer qualify for the bonus, according to a report from Military.com. Special Duty Assignment Pay can range anywhere...

We have extensively discussed China’s fifth-generation fighter – the J-20 Mighty Dragon, which is now based at all regional theater commands in China to deploy in times of war quickly. It has radar-evading characteristics allowing it to join the exclusive club of stealth fighters to challenge F-22s and F-35s. China seems to be pumping out more J-20 models each month. Now Beijing’s air force is raising the stakes with its sixth-generation fighter on display at the Zhuhai Airshow. This is again to match the planned American Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. When it looks like the United States Air Force...

In July 2020 ,the United States Air Force contracted with Boeing for the delivery of new F-15 fighters, to be dubbed the F-15EX. The idea behind the F-15EX is remarkable in its simplicity: We have a great fighter plane, but our existing fleet is old, so why not just buy some new ones?

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...

Because of the prohibitive cost of designing, developing, and fielding a strategic bomber force, only three countries field strategic bombers, able to hit continents thousands of miles away; China, Russia, and the United States. And the B-21 Raider stealth bomber is set to provide the U.S. Air Force with 100 bombers for at least the next 30 years. The B-21 Raider gets its name honoring the Doolittle Raiders, U.S. Army Air Force men during World War II. Just months after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. suffering defeat after defeat in the Pacific theater, President Roosevelt ordered...