U.S. AIR FORCE

As Israel unleashes one of the most-intense aerial bombing campaigns the Middle East has ever seen, leaders from the world’s top air forces are meeting in the United Arab Emirates to talk about almost anything that isn’t an airstrike.

The Air Force is asking Congress to restrict further construction of the towering wind turbines that have edged closer to its nuclear missile sites in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska and Colorado.

A Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American B-52 bomber flying over the South China Sea, nearly causing an accident, the U.S. military says, underscoring the potential for a mishap as both countries vie for influence in the region.

The Associated Press has been granted rare access to U.S. nuclear missile bases and weapons production facilities to see how technicians keep the arsenal working while starting the government’s biggest nuclear overhaul since the Cold War.

The Pentagon says it has not restarted counterterrorism operations in Niger, a day after the head of U.S. airpower for Europe and Africa said those flights had resumed.

The U.S. could have the first Ukrainian pilots trained on F-16 fighter jets before the end of the year, though it will be longer than that before they are flying combat missions.

The U.S. is joining NATO allies in hosting training for Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Arizona Air National Guard base in October.

The U.S. Air Force is throwing its support behind a program to develop a sleek, futuristic-looking jet that could provide greater range and efficiency for military tankers and cargo planes.

The Air Force has detected unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen in samples taken at a Montana missile base where a striking number of men and women have reported cancer diagnoses.

David Grusch, a former member of a U.S. Air Force panel on unidentified anomalous phenomena, said the U.S. government has been concealing a defense program that collects and reverse engineers UFOs.

A top Pentagon official has attacked this week’s widely watched congressional hearing on UFOs.

U.S. officials say that a Russian fighter jet flew very close to a U.S. surveillance aircraft over Syria, forcing it to go through the turbulent wake and putting the lives of the four American crew members in danger.

China is accusing the United States of militarizing outer space, a day after it protested the passage of a Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait.

The Defense Department says a U.S. drone strike has killed an Islamic State group leader in Syria.

The U.S. Air Force says Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers.

Congressional delegates from Ohio are promoting Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton as the location for the new Space Command headquarters.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he hopes that training for Ukrainian pilots on American-made F-16 fighter jets will begin in the coming weeks.

The Air Force fighter pilot about to be nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his callsign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below.

President Joe Biden will announce Thursday that he is tapping a history-making Air Force fighter pilot to serve as the nation’s next top military officer, according to a U.S. official.

President Joe Biden’s decision to allow allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate F-16 fighter jets — and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves — seemed like an abrupt change in position but was in fact one that came after months of internal debate and quiet talks with allies.

The Air Force says a review of a Montana nuclear missile base where an unusual number of troops have reported being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma has found no immediate risk factors.

A Sweden-based watchdog says global military spending grew for the eighth consecutive year in 2022 to an all-time high of $2.24 trillion.

President Joe Biden is sticking with a blue-and-white color scheme for the exterior of the new version of Air Force One.

The sister of North Korea’s leader is warning that her country is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea.

The Air Force says six officers who were in charge of caring for the infrastructure, fuel and logistics support for a North Dakota nuclear missile base were relieved of command due to a loss of confidence in their ability to carry out their responsibilities.

Boeing says it expects to end production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet in late 2025.

A U-2 pilot flying high above the Chinese spy balloon took a close-up photo of the large white orb just a day before the Air Force shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina.

The Air Force is expanding its review of cancers among its nuclear missile corps.

North Korea has threatened to take “unprecedently” strong action against its rivals over a series of military drills planned between South Korea and the United States.

The extraordinary scene of U.S. fighter jets getting ready to strike the Chinese balloon had many people along the Carolina coast straining their necks and pointing their smartphones to the sky to capture the moment of impact.

The U.S. Air Force is telling North Dakota leaders it believes a Chinese company’s plan to build a wet corn milling plant near the Grand Forks Air Force Base poses a national security threat.

The top Air Force general in charge of the nation’s air- and ground-launched nuclear missiles has requested an official investigation into the number of airmen who are reporting blood cancer diagnoses after serving at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

The Pentagon says about 100 Ukrainians will head to Oklahoma’s Fort Sill as soon as next week to begin training on the Patriot missile defense system.

The Biden administration says it will provide $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. Air Force pilot who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died.

The United States is sending an additional $400 million in ammunition and generators to Ukraine.

The U.S. will send $400 million more in military aid to Ukraine amid concerns financial assistance for the war against Russia could decline if Republicans take control of Congress.

The United States military says it flew a pair of nuclear-capable B-52 long-distance bombers over the Middle East in a show of force, the latest such mission in the region as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran.

U.S. officials say that as Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on, U.S. security assistance is shifting to a longer-term campaign that will likely keep more American military troops in Europe into the future.

A pair of U.S. Air Force B52 strategic bombers have flown over the Croatian resort of Dubrovnik and three other NATO-member European states in a sign of support amid the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The Biden administration has announced another $1 billion in new military aid for Ukraine.

When “Top Gun: Maverick” roared into theaters in late May, the Air Force was ready.

About 1,000 Air National Guard troops who are assigned to space missions are mired in an identity crisis.

The independent watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan is accusing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development of illegally withholding information about the American withdrawal from the country.

An Air Force major general in Ohio has been convicted by a military judge of one of three specifications of abusive sexual contact in the first-ever military trial of an Air Force general.

Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching battle for Ukraine’s contested Donbas region.

The U.S. has resupplied Saudi Arabia with Patriot antimissile interceptors in recent weeks as the Biden administration looks to ease what has been a point of tension in the increasingly complicated U.S.-Saudi relationship.

U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that military investigations have found that poor leadership, inadequate training and a "culture of complacency” among U.S. forces undermined efforts to fend off a 2020 attack by militants in Kenya that killed three Americans.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has renewed calls for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, That's despite the repeated rejection of the idea by Western leaders, who are concerned about triggering a wider war in Europe.

The global surge in coronavirus infections wreaked havoc with Secretary of State Antony Blinken's round-the-world diplomatic journey last week.

A whistleblower has alleged that Britain’s Foreign Office abandoned many of the nation’s allies in Afghanistan and left them to the mercy of the Taliban during the fall of the capital, Kabul, because of a dysfunctional and arbitrary evacuation effort.

NASA has picked 10 new astronauts, half of them military pilots, as it looks ahead to the moon and Mars.

The evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan didn’t end with the departure of the last U.S. troops on Aug. 30.

A new report says more than half of Air Force and Space Force personnel who responded to a survey said they've experienced some type of mental or physical abuse in the past two years.

The U.S. Air Force has flown a B-1B strategic bomber over key maritime chokepoints in the Mideast with allies including Israel.

An Afghan man who worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan says the Biden administration has ignored his pleas for help to evacuate his two young sons from Afghanistan after their mother died of a heart attack while being threatened by the Taliban.

More than 82,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized the capital Kabul on Aug. 14.

Fox News Channel was last week's most-watched TV outlet on broadcast or cable.

A group of Michigan Tech University alumni have submitted the winning bid for a former U.S. Air Force radar station in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula they hope can become a tourist destination.

It's video footage that could become some of the defining images of the fall of Kabul: Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban takeover clung to the side of a departing U.S. military jet as it rolled down the tarmac Monday.

At just short of 20 years, the now-ending U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan was America's longest war.

Four A-10C attack aircraft and two C-146A Wolfhound special operations transports will take part in the exercise.

A U.S. Air Force officer has thanked a British photographer whose quick action ensured he landed safely after an engine in the aircraft he was piloting malfunctioned last week.

Bryant Lepic is an 11-year US Air Force veteran who has completed five combat deployments to Iraq.

Bryant Lepic is an 11-year US Air Force veteran who has completed five combat deployments to Iraq.

A federal judge has ruled the U.S. Air Force is largely responsible for a former serviceman killing more than two dozen people at a Texas church in 2017.

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose for the 12th time in the last 13 months in May, pulled up by a surge in demand for civilian aircraft.

Monday is the last day for people to get a COVID vaccine at Ford Field.

FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2020, file photo, provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Marines and sailors carry a casket inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. The U.S. Marine Corps is expected to release results of its investigation into a seafaring tank that sunk off San Diego's coast last summer, killing eight Marines and one sailor. “Ultimately this tragic mishap was preventable,” wrote Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, in his review of the investigation. It was one of the deadliest Marine training accidents in decades. After the accident, the Marine Corps adopted stricter inspections for its fleet of amphibious assault vehicles, and a majority failed to meet the standards, the report stated.

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A U.S. airman was arrested after deserting the U.S. Air Force and a warrant issued for his arrest out of Oakland County. Ian Mitchell Wilson, 20, was arrested in the state of Washington after trying to cross the border into Canada. Wilson was extradited back to Oakland County and made his first appearance in the Waterford Township district court. During the hearing, it was revealed that he is a suspect in five other criminal sexual conduct cases going back to 2017, all in Waterford and Independence townships. AdREAD MORE: Oakland County news

FILE - In this April 14, 1999, file photo, F-16 Fighting Falcons sit on the tarmac at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Calif. The U.S. Air Force says it will be distributing bottled water until at least April to thousands of residents and business owners near Luke Air Force Base in suburban Phoenix in the latest case of fire firefighting foam from a military base contaminating a nearby community's water supply. Luke Air Force Base announced this month that studies showed high levels of contaminants had affected drinking water for about 6,000 people in roughly 1,600 homes as well as a few neighboring businesses. Gen. Gregory Kreuder, commander of Luke Air Force Base, said a study showed the chemicals may have affected “supply wells that provide drinking water” to properties nearby. The chemicals also have been discovered around the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2021, file photo Marine One, with President Joe Biden aboard, is seen past a member of the U.S. Air Force as it approaches Andrews Air Force Base, Md. The Air Force inspector general will do a second investigation into racial and ethnic disparities across the force, service leaders said Friday, expanding the review to include gender and additional racial categories such as Asian and American Indian. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON – The Air Force inspector general will do a second investigation into racial and ethnic disparities across the force, service leaders said Friday, expanding the review to include gender and additional racial categories such as Asian and American Indian. AdActing Air Force Secretary John Roth, who ordered the latest review, said the IG will go directly to Air Force and Space Force service members for input. “The IG team has already begun to gather information contained in a wide array of previous reports, studies and various databases across the Department of the Air Force,” Roth said.

The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. Air Force via AP)WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. It called the pause “a routine administrative action” that most incoming administrations take with large-scale arms sales. In its waning months, the Trump administration authorized tens of billions of dollars in new arms sales, including announcing plans to send 50 F-35s to the UAE. Less than a month after the Nov. 10 UAE sale was announced, an effort to block the deal fell short in the Senate, which failed to halt it.

The United States called Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates "major security partners" early Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, a previously unheard of designation for the two countries home to major American military operations. Air Force via AP)DUBAI – The United States called Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates “major security partners" early Saturday, a previously unheard of designation for the two countries home to major American military operations. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, while the UAE's Jebel Ali port is the busiest port of call for American warships outside of the U.S. Bahrain hosts some 5,000 American troops, while the UAE hosts 3,500, many at Al-Dhafra Air Base. Already, the U.S. uses the designation of “major non-NATO ally” to describe its relationship with Kuwait, which hosts the forward command of U.S. Army Central. Trump forged close ties to Gulf Arab countries during his time in office in part over his hard-line stance on Iran.

The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce Huntsville, Ala. as the location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters, according to Gov. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday that the new U.S. Space Command headquarters will be in Huntsville, Alabama, after the state was selected over five others competing for the project, including Colorado, where Space Command is provisionally located. The role of Space Command is to conduct operations such as enabling satellite-based navigation and troop communication and providing warning of missile launches. That is different from the Space Force, which is a distinct military service like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. “I couldn’t be more pleased to learn that Alabama will be the new home to the United States Space Command,” Alabama Republican Gov.

The U.S. Air Force has deployed on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, about 90 airmen and an unspecified number of drone aircraft to a base in central Romania, boosting its military presence in the region where there are allied concerns that Russia is trying to display its military strength. The Romanian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the U.S. deployment in its Campia Turzii Air Base will be for “a few months” to conduct information gathering, surveillance and research missions in support of NATO operations. NATO-member Romania shares the Black Sea border with Russia, and Moscow has lately been arming its neighbor Serbia with military aircraft, tanks and other armored vehicles. The Pentagon has spent millions of dollars in recent years to upgrade the Cold War communist-era base in central Romania where its air force hosts two squadrons of modernized version MiG-21 aircraft and two Puma helicopter squadrons. The United States and Romania enjoy a close military-to-military relationship as NATO allies and cooperate on numerous regional security issues, the U.S. statement said.

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., is refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The United States flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf on Wednesday for the second time this month, a show of force meant to deter Iran from attacking American or allied targets in the Middle East. Because of the potential for escalation that could lead to a wider war, the U.S. has sought to deter Iran from additional attacks. Iran denied involvement but was blamed by the United States for that attack. That flight was repeated this week, with two B-52s flying nonstop from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and heading home Wednesday after cruising over the western side of the Gulf.

FILE - This Friday, Aug. 10, 2007, file photo, shows the logo of the Department of the U.S. Air Force at the United Staes embassy, in Berlin. And it concluded that “racial disparity exists" for Black service members, but that the data did not explain why it happens. It said that a large number of Black service members reported experiences with bias and racism. "Black service members need to work twice as hard and you can’t mess up.”Discrimination beliefs cut across the ranks. Gen. Charles Brown Jr., chief of staff of the Air Force, said service leaders must rebuild trust with their force.

But on Wednesday the effort to turn back the arms sales failed to reach the 51-vote majority needed for passage. The Senate will take up the broader defense bill soon. Israeli officials have previously expressed some concern about an F-35 sale. Even after Wednesday's setback, Congress is poised to approve the sweeping annual defense bill despite Trump's objections. Trump has warned he would veto the bill over a provision to study stripping the names of Confederate leaders from U.S. military bases.

FILE - In this July 19, 2018, file photo, civil rights movement activist James Meredith, right, greets a friend with a black power salute as he takes a coffee break at a north Jackson, Miss., grocery store. It was one of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and it forever changed life in the American Deep South. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)RIO RANCHO, N.M. – A new documentary is diving into the complicated, and sometimes contradictory life of James Meredith, a Black civil rights figure who helped change Mississippi. It was one of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and Meredith's determination to enroll in Ole Miss forever transformed life in the American Deep South. “I hope that people will see this from the viewpoint from the first person ... almost as if they are James Meredith going through this.”___Russell Contreras is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity Team.

Staff board a U.S. Air Force C-17 as they prepare to take the season's first flight to McMurdo Station in Antarctica from Christchurch Airport, New Zealand, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The first U.S. flight into Antarctica following months of winter darkness left from New Zealand Monday with crews extra vigilant about keeping out the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)WELLINGTON – The first U.S. flight into Antarctica following months of winter darkness left from New Zealand on Monday with crews taking extra precautions to keep out the coronavirus. Antarctica is the only continent without the virus, and there is a global effort to make sure incoming scientists and workers don’t bring it with them. The U.S. Air Force flight left from the gateway city of Christchurch carrying 106 passengers and crew, said Tony German, the U.S. Antarctic program's representative in New Zealand.

A U.S. Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II takes off during the Bushwhacker 18-02 Cactus Flag exercise at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Feb. 11, 2018. Chris Drzazgowski)(CNN) - A routine training mission turned out to be anything but that aboard an Air Force plane in Arizona. The M-156 rocket that was launched landed in an uninhabited area and caused no injuries, damage or fires, according to the Air Force. "This training area is not designated for munitions release," a statement from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base said. The A-10C Thunderbolt II is assigned to the 354th Fighter Squadron, which is part of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base's 355th Fighter Wing.

(CNN) - They've got a plan to raid Area 51 and "see them aliens." "[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces," a spokeswoman told The Washington Post. "The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets." CNN has reached out to the Air Force and is waiting to hear back. In short, it's thought that Area 51 holds all the government secrets about aliens -- though the CIA has published documents confirming its use as a test base.