Tag: usaf

Air Force General Defends Memo That Predicted War With China By 2025

The four-star general in charge of the US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command has defended a memo he sent to his officers earlier this year where he predicted the US would be at war with China in 2025.

“My assessment is that war is not inevitable, but the readiness I’m driving with that timeline is absolutely essential to deterrence and absolutely essential to the decisive victory,” Gen. Mike Minihan said last week when asked about his prediction, according to Defense One.

“There needs to be tension on readiness, more than just ‘be ready tonight.’ You need to have readiness that drives urgency. The urgency and the action are paramount,” he added.

Minihan noted that the memo, dated February 1, included the words: “I hope I am wrong.” But the memo to his officers ordered them to be prepared for a fight with China, and while the Pentagon distanced itself from Minihan’s timeline, the US is openly preparing for a direct war with China by building up its forces in the Asia Pacific and increasing military support for Taiwan.

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Mystery deepens as USAF reveals 11 of the 17 service members who have died at Tinker Air Force base since January passed away ‘due to natural cause’ – and REFUSES to disclose how the other six lost their lives

The USAF has revealed 11 of 17 deaths on an Oklahoma air base this year were from natural causes – but six remained under investigation.

Tinker Air Force Base has found itself in the spotlight since Military.com confirmed there had been 17 deaths on the base this year, where more than 30,000 service members, government employees, contractors and civilians work.

Most of the 17 who died were civilians, said Colonel Abigail Ruscetta, the 72nd Air Base Wing Commander.

One source told Military.com that some of the deaths were potential suicides, and some were Covid-19-related.

‘Tinker Air Force Base experienced 17 deaths since January of this year,’ said Ruscetta, in a statement to DailyMail.com.

‘Eleven of the lost uniformed and civilian Airmen died as a result of natural causes or accidents.

‘The six remaining losses are a result of other causes, some of which remain under investigation.’

There are few details about the people who have died at the base. Only an obituary for Senior Airperson Tyler Jo Law, who died on May 28, listed her at the base.

The obituary did not reveal a cause of death. Ruscetta said the Air Force worked to support the friends and relatives of those who have died.

‘Each and every death, either by suicide or some other means, is a tragedy,’ she said.

‘Following each loss of life, leaders from the affected unit engaged with their people to acknowledge the loss of a valued teammate.

‘We offered many avenues of support, including a network of helping agencies, mental health counselors, chaplains, and Military Family Readiness professionals.’

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Tinker Air Force Base deaths: 17 people dead in 2023, military refuses to reveal causes

An Air Force base in Oklahoma is tight-lipped after 17 people have died since the beginning of 2023, with an advocate for military families saying she’d made inquiries about a possible rash of suicides. 

Officials for the Air Force and the base have refused to reveal the nature of the deaths, saying only that there were ‘various causes.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to the base for an explanation or names of the personnel who have died – but officials did not respond in time for this report. 

A number of the deaths are also still ‘under investigation,’ a spokesperson for the base said. A Military.com investigation suggested that ‘they had been informed of deaths connected to base this year including potential suicides.’ 

It’s not clear how many of the deaths were service members or what their role was at the base, which has over 30,000 personnel on site. 

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How The F-35’s Lack Of Spare Parts Became As Big A Threat As Enemy Missiles

The so-called ‘just-in-time’ logistics model that stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighters rely entirely on, particularly when it comes to spare parts, would present major risks in a large-scale conflict, according to the top U.S. officer in charge of the program. While that is troubling, it is hardly surprising. Unfortunately, even after years of major problems being readily apparent, the F-35 program continues to face significant supply chain hurdles that could seriously hamper the jets’ ability to perform sustained high-end combat operations against a major foe like China. Here’s why.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the current head of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), raised his specific concerns about the just-in-time concept during a panel discussion on April 3, at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference and exhibition. Other U.S. officials, as well as industry representatives and foreign military officers, raised similar and otherwise related points during that talk and during other recent events.

The complexities and ballooning costs of sustaining F-35 fleets have been growing issues for years now.

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Air Force Confirms Military Records of Two More GOP Candidates Were Leaked to Democratic Firm

The U.S. Air Force has admitted that it improperly released the military records of a further two GOP candidates to a Democratic-aligned research firm in an issue that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said is “not going to go away quietly.”

In a letter last Friday obtained by Politico, the Air Force informed House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) that an internal audit confirmed nine people’s records were “released without authority” to the Due Diligence Group between 2021 and 2023.

“During the two-year period covered by the timeline in your letter, AFPC received a total of 19,597 requests for records,” the letter read. “AFPC also initiated a separate audit of all third-party requests received between early 2021 and early 2023. That audit identified a total of 11 individuals who had their military records released without proper authority.”

According to the letter, seven of the disclosed records affected GOP candidates running for office in 2022. Among them, five had already been made public, while a further two have just been confirmed. The first is J.R. Majewski, an Ohio candidate who faced campaign-trail scrutiny for embellishing part of his military record. The other is Robert “Eli” Bremer, who lost in last year’s GOP primary race to take on Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO).

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What We Know About The US Air Force’s Balloon Party So Far

You know, everyone’s always talking about how the US military is only ever used to kill foreigners for resource control and generate profits for the military-industrial complex, but that’s not entirely true. Turns out the US military is also used for shooting down party balloons.

In an article titled “Object downed by US missile may have been amateur hobbyists’ $12 balloon,” The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports the following:

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade says one of its hobby craft went “missing in action” over Alaska on 11 February, the same day a US F-22 jet downed an unidentified airborne entity not far away above Canada’s Yukon territory.

In a blogpost, the group did not link the two events. But the trajectory of the pico balloon before its last recorded electronic check-in at 12.48am that day suggests a connection – as well as a fiery demise at the hands of a sidewinder missile on the 124th day of its journey, three days before it was set to complete its seventh circumnavigation.

If that is what happened, it would mean the US military expended a missile costing $439,000 (£365,000) to fell an innocuous hobby balloon worth about $12 (£10).

“The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type,” writes Steve Trimble for Aviation Week, who first broke the Bottlecap Balloon Brigade story.

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Air Force F-16 That Shot Down Object Over Lake Huron Missed on Its First Attempt – First Missile Still Hasn’t Been Located

According to US officials, the Air Force F-16 that shot down an object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed its first attempt.

“A second Sidewinder air-to-air missile was needed.” Fox News reported.

It is unclear where the first missile landed.

Fox News reported: US Air Force F-16 that shot down an unknown object over Lake Huron yesterday missed on its first attempt, U.S. officials say.

Four objects have been shot down by US fighter pilots in the last week.

Three of the objects were shot down over US airspace – the object shot down on Sunday over Lake Huron was shaped like an octagon and was at an altitude of 20,000 feet.

The Pentagon said the object shot down on Sunday likely fell into Canadian waters on Lake Huron.

Joe Biden has yet to address the public about the 3 ‘objects’ shot down by US fighter pilots in the last few days.

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US Air Force Grounds Entire B-2 Nuclear Bomber Fleet Amid Search for Defects

The US Air Force has grounded all 20 B-2 Spirit bombers until further notice amid an ongoing search for potential safety defects following an accident, Air Force Times reported.

The decision to ground the entire fleet of nuclear bombers followed an emergency landing accident of a bomber on December 10 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri after an undisclosed in-flight malfunction, the report said on Monday.

The Air Force is currently investigating the accident and the bombers will resume normal operations once the safety inspections are concluded, the report added.

The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of firing both conventional and nuclear munitions. Its stealth characteristics make it difficult to detect with conventional infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual, and radar systems, according to the Air Force.

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Air Force tells ‘cisgender men’ not to apply for new internship

The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) announced a fellowship via email on September 14 that excludes “cisgender” men and instead is explicitly open to “undergraduate women and gender minorities interested in aerospace.”

As Fox News reports, the Brooke Owens Fellowship is only available to candidates from the Air Force who are “a cisgender woman, a transgender woman, non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority.” The application adds, “If you are a cisgender man, this program isn’t for you.”

The academy, which is located in Colorado, said the 2023 Brooke Owens Fellowship application deadline was October 10 and that it is a “nine-week paid internship at a leading aerospace company.”

There are two “spinoff programs” for “cisgender men,”  the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program. Of those two the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is only for black men.

Fox News was alerted to the program from a cadet who wrote, “It’s a little worrying that we have more briefs about D&I (diversity and inclusion) than briefs about foreign adversaries, emerging technologies or current events across the world.”

The cadet’s revelation comes after reports that the Air Force Academy has implemented diversity trainings that include telling cadets to use gender-neutral language and drop the word “colorblind.”

In a slideshow titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do,” the school tells its Air Force cadets to use “person-centered” and gender-neutral language when describing people.

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Air Force Rejects Medical Exemption Request to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Despite Documented Allergy

The Air Force has rejected a medical exemption application to the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate from a reservist despite the member presenting proof that she has an allergy to one of the vaccine’s components.

The reservist went to a clinic in Texas and underwent allergy testing to components of the vaccine, according to a letter from a doctor that was submitted to the Air Force this week.

“She developed a positive reaction to intradermal testing to Polysorbate, indicating the potential for a significant allergic reaction to future COVID-19 vaccination,” the doctor wrote in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Epoch Times.

“I respectfully recommend that the patient be granted a medical waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.

Just days later, though, the military said the request wasn’t being granted.

In a letter to the lawyer representing the reservist, military officials said medical exemptions are not given to people who are “claiming an allergy to a preservative in the vaccine without having had the vaccine.”

“What it comes down to is you must take at least one COVID vaccine and have had an adverse reaction before you can claim an allergy to it,” officials said.

That stance clashes with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which states that contraindications to a COVID-19 vaccine include a “known diagnosed allergy to a component” of the vaccines.

The agency does state that a polysorbate allergy is only a contraindication to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, designating it as a “precaution” for the other two vaccines authorized in the United States. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do not contain polysorbate but do contain polyethylene glycol; the compounds are related and cross-reactive hypersensitivity may occur between them.

The agency advises people with such an allergy to consult with an allergist or immunologist.

The Air Force did not respond to requests for comment.

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