Tag: usaf

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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Former USAF Officers Claim Aliens Disabled America’s Nuclear Missiles in the 1960s

Scientists, astronomers, and common folk alike have been intrigued by recent sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). On Oct. 7, a group of former United States Air Force (USAF) officers announced that they will present evidence that UFOs have breached American nuclear missile sites over the past few decades.

The submitted evidence will be used to support the claim that nuclear missiles were “inexplicably disabled” by mysterious crafts flying overhead.

Former USAF Captain and nuclear missile crew commander Robert Salas, former USAF captain and nuclear missile crew commander David Schindele, former USAF captain and nuclear missile targeting officer Robert Jamison, and former USAF lieutenant and missile test photographic officer Robert Jacobs will hold a press conference to discuss the matter on Oct. 19.

The panel was organized by Salas, who raised more than $13,000 for the press conference and congressional lobbying through GoFundMe. The officers will present declassified U.S. government documents and witness testimonies as proof of ongoing UFO incursions on nuclear missile sites. 

The ex-officers claim that UFOs disabled weapons systems at nuclear bases. The missiles were even activated by starting launch sequences before the trespassers decided to shut them down.

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“Ready For Fielding” – US AC-130 Gunship Receives Laser Cannon

One of the most feared planes on the modern battlefield is the U.S. Air Force’s AC-130H Spectre gunship. The service has made major upgrades to the gunship, including a new offensive laser weapon system. 

Lockheed Martin published a press release last week outlining how the Airborne High Energy Laser (AHEL) “is ready for fielding today.” 

“Completion of this milestone is a tremendous accomplishment for our customer,” said Rick Cordaro, vice president, Lockheed Martin Advanced Product Solutions. “These mission success milestones are a testament of our partnership with the U.S. Air Force in rapidly achieving important advances in laser weapon system development. Our technology is ready for fielding today.”

The gunship, nicknamed “Hell in the Sky,” packs a serious punch with three side-firing weapons, including a 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm Bofors cannon, and a 105mm howitzer. The fourth will be the AHEL, a chemical energy weapon, unleashing concentrated pulses of light to transfer energy to the target, quickly heating it and damaging it. 

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New Air Force weapon can take out hundreds of drones instantly — and silently

The U.S. Air Force unveiled a weapon this month designed to take out hundreds of drones at once with barely a sound.

The Tactical High Power Operational Responder (THOR) uses a beam of energy to scramble the electronics inside hundreds of drones at once.

“This unique system allows base defense forces to stop [unmanned aerial system] attacks at long range before they threaten critical infrastructure,” the Air Force Research Lab said in a June 16 animated video.

Increasingly sophisticated drones are becoming more threatening in the hands of enemy militaries as attack and surveillance capabilities grow, the Air Force said in the video. THOR is more effective than small arms and more efficient than heavy arms, which are currently used against drones.

When THOR identifies a target, it shoots a beam of microwaves in less than a second, providing an instant effect on the drones.

The system is different from a laser, which shoots a beam capable of destroying one drone, according to the Air Force. Instead, THOR’s utilization of high-powered microwaves allows it to scuttle swarms of unmanned aerial systems.

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