A pair of Air Force colonels began new jobs on the Peninsula this week, one overseeing Joint Base Langley Eustis and the other taking command of the 1st Fighter Wing.

The Air Force Thunderbirds were practicing for an upcoming air show when there was a "mishap" during the landing. The pilot and his passenger were taken to a hospital for treatment.

A tornado that struck in Omaha last week damaged two of the “Doomsday” 747 aircraft that serve as the national command center for the United States in the case of an attack, the Air Force said Friday.

GALLERY

U.S. European Command released a series of photos Friday that captured the close encounter earlier this week between a Russian fighter and a U.S. Air Force surveillance plane flying over the Baltic Sea.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and Lockheed Martin's newest jet trainer will be featured at annual air show this weekend in southwestern Ohio.

Maj. David Mueller has assumed command of Yokota’s 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as the base’s aging fleet of C-130H cargo planes are replaced by newer J models.

The increased pay is part of an effort to retain airmen in critical fields. Airmen who are eligible could see up to an additional $615 a month in their pay.

Remains found in 1982 have been identified as an airman from New Mexico who went missing in 1974.

As many as 135 patients could have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis at a U.S. air base in Qatar because medical equipment wasn’t properly cleaned during examinations in an eight-year period.

The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee’s portion of the fiscal 2018 defense authorization bill, released on Tuesday, calls for a separate service dedicated to defending space, a responsibility that currently falls under the Air Force’s purview.

An RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft crashed Wednesday in an uninhabited area in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The National Guard plans to drop funding for its Operation Snowbird visiting-unit training program, operated at Davis-Monthan Air Force base by the Air National Guard 162nd Wing, according to court documents.

A water line break near Turner Park caused the water system pressure to drop and possibly allowed “harmful impurities” to enter, according to a news release. Turner Park occupants are asked to boil all water for at least one full minute after reaching a rolling boil and allow it to cool before using.

Officials with the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke said no specific root cause for the events was identified. But specific concerns were eliminated as possible causes including maintenance and aircrew flight equipment procedures.

The commander of the Vermont National Guard says the state's Army guard members will be ready, if asked, for a major operation in late 2019.

The Air Force Academy plowed $2.6 million into an unprecedented public relations effort to polish its image after a series of scandals involving athletes at the school.

A science teacher specialist at Hampton City Schools, McAllister was at the marina at Langley Air Force Base with educators and two dozen fifth-graders from Booker Elementary who had arrived to build the school's first oyster reef on the Back River. "Here come your babies!" McAllister shouted. "Here come your babies!"

Analysis | Video

The F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired, serving the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy – and even Britain’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy – all in one aircraft design.

The Air Force plans to get its F-35s at Luke Air Force Base flying again Tuesday, but with restrictions to prevent more of the oxygen deprivation incidents that led to their grounding.

David Howe chose to aim high when he applied to all five U.S. military service academies. It paid off.

A Pentagon effort to incubate businesses in Silicon Valley may be bearing some of its first fruit, as a San Diego company rolls out a set of new drones it says could accompany human-piloted fighters into combat.

GALLERY

German, Polish and Hungarian weather troops attended a training event hosted by the 7th Weather Squadron at McCully Barracks in Wackernheim, Germany.

The Air Force is holding another large-scale exercise in the Powder River Training Complex in the Northern Plains.

A mistaken report of a shooter prompted the lockdown of Travis Air Force Base in California on Wednesday in the midst of an emergency training exercise, officials said.

Secretary Wilson, a former New Mexico congresswoman and a prior Air Force officer, was named to the top civilian post in the service branch in January.

Staff Sgt. Lesli Pape said Monday's Pride event was one of 11 observances throughout the year to promote acceptance of and equal opportunity for people from a variety of ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds.

The Air Force has extended its stand-down of F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona to determine what has caused a string of oxygen system failures in its newest fighter jet.

The missile hardware dates to the 1960s, the same era when the U.S. aerospace industry built the Apollo spacecraft that took men to the moon. Unlike the moon rockets, the ICBMs are still are still at work.

No specific threat prompted the historic deployment of all three Air Force Global Strike Command strategic bombers to the European theater, 3rd Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Richard Clark said Monday.

The Air Force has again signaled it wants to eliminate three squadrons of A-10 Thunderbolt II jets, permanently grounding the aging aircraft, according to U.S. Rep. Martha McSally.

The U.S. Air Force has ordered a stand-down of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft at an Arizona base after pilots there said they suffered oxygen deprivation while flying the plane built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

As a high school student, Maj. Nate Hofmann was focused on moving onward and upward, riding his passion for flying to a career with the U.S. Air Force.

The 10-hour operation between the Guam-based B-1B Lancers and the San Diego-based USS Sterett was designed to refine joint tactics and procedures between the services and “increase confidence in their ability to fight together."

Moody Air Force Base changed its conceal carry policy, allowing for privately owned guns to be secured in vehicles on base during the duty day.

The blockade imposed on Qatar by several of its neighboring Arab nations has had no impact on war efforts against the Islamic State from the United States’ largest base in the Middle East, but it is affecting the Pentagon’s long-term planning, a U.S. defense official said Friday.

Westboro Baptist Church, achurch notorious for protesting at military service members' funerals, has announced that it plans to picket Eglin Air Force Base next week.

A former Air Force security squadron staff sergeant already charged with raping three prostitutes at gunpoint in Colorado Springs - and using a cellphone to document the attacks - will be charged in a fourth assault.

Nearly two months after the Navy grounded its fleet of T-45 trainer jets due to cockpit oxygen problems, the aircraft have still not returned to service and the Navy is exploring alternatives, the service’s top aviation commander said Wednesday.

U-2 spy planes, fighter jets and other aircraft have been deployed off the peninsula as the Air Force temporarily halts flights from Osan Air Base while it begins rebuilding a Korean War-era runway.

ANALYSIS

For the tiny, oil rich nation of Qatar, Al Udeid Air Base, home to more than 10,000 U.S. servicemembers, has long been something of an insurance policy.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said she understood the Air Force would not conduct the study, but pointed out the U.S. Navy paid for the ATSDR to conduct "a similar kind of health study at Camp Lejeune."

The U.S. Air Force's top general says he's determined to avoid excessive secrecy during development of the service's new B-21 bomber, citing its predecessor as a cautionary tale.

Nicholas Murphy, 27, of Exeter, R.I., began communicating with the minor through Facebook and other online platforms. The victim told Murphy that she was 16 years old, though she was in fact younger, according to court records.

Reality Leigh Winner was accused of gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information describing Russian government efforts to use hacking techniques against employees of a company that provides technical support to states' voting agencies.

The Air Force will move 12 KC-135 tankers to the base by 2020 as it makes room for the new KC-46A tankers at another base. That would bring the size of Fairchild’s tanker fleet to 56, making it one of the bigger air-refueling facilities in the country.

An Idaho woman found a little surprise while helping clean out her parents' shed. A Nazi explosive.

Air Force pilots who are eligible will receive an extra $10,000 to $35,000 annually for staying in the service, the Air Force announced Monday.

The commander of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command says the special weapon dubbed "the mother of all bombs" used in Afghanistan in April was delivered by an aircraft from a special operations unit home-based at Cannon Air Force Base in eastern New Mexico.

A Dover Air Force Base airman charged with sexually abusing a teenage runaway is asking a federal judge to release him from pretrial detention so he can return to base.

Two transgender cadets — one each at the Air Force and Army military academies — will be allowed to graduate this month after passing exams but will not be permitted to join the ranks of the military’s newest officers, USA TODAY reported.

The U.S. Air Force is slated to get a more than 150 percent boost of $600 million in the Pentagon’s proposed 2018 budget for operations in Europe, the sharpest increase among the services as the military seeks to intensify efforts aimed at countering Russia.

VIDEO

Twelve F-16 fighter planes assigned to Osan Air Base in South Korea stopped in western Tokyo on Friday on their way to Alaska, while South Korean fighters forced to land yesterday remained in Japan a little longer.

The top leader at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center headquartered at Wright-Patterson says the sprawling global command could use 4,000 to 8,000 employees based on studies showing a need for a larger workforce.

The project is expected to take two years and includes a new visitors center and enhanced security that will bring the base up to current Air Force compliance standards.

Former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has been elected to the board of directors of Textron Aviation’s parent company. She served as the 23rd Air Force Secretary under former President Barack Obama.

Six South Korean F-16 jet fighters were diverted to a U.S. military base in Tokyo after a refueling aircraft malfunctioned, U.S. Forces Japan officials said Thursday.

A flight of Boeing B-52H Stratofortress from the 2nd Bomb Wing accompanied by 800 airmen have deployed to RAF Fairford to take part in a series of upcoming war games across Europe.

Gabriel Antonio Fuentes-Lebrón and his girlfriend, Savannah Cagle, a seaman apprentice in the Navy, died after a motorcycle crash May 18 in Okinawa. His family remembers him as a leader and a devoted son.

Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks is opening a gate that workers will use for a $500 million construction project so that the base can receive 54 new F-35 fighter jets scheduled to arrive in 2020.

A mother and her mother-in-law forced at gunpoint out of their vehicle and handcuffed outside the Air Force Museum were paid $40,000 to settle a federal civil lawsuit, according to a court document recently obtained by this news organization.

Flying rescue missions during the Korean War, Ted Barnhart was the radar operator as his B-17 skimmed over polar seas.

ANALYSIS

Although the flight test proved the Minuteman is still capable of performing its mission, major components of the missile and the control centers used to launch them are Cold War-era relics that have become increasingly expensive to maintain. Spare parts are in such short supply that the military has been known to pull them from museums.

A dozen South Korea-based A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft took off for an exercise in Alaska, an indication that the U.S. military is carrying on with business as usual despite rising tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The city of Portsmouth closed the Haven well at Pease International Tradeport in May 2014 after the Air Force found levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, at 12.5 times higher than what was then the EPA's provisional health advisory.

Military officials say the lockdown of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas has been lifted after a preliminary search of a community center there did not reveal any danger.

Rucking for Memorial Day is a Moody AFB tradition that goes back many years. All members of the 823rd Base Defense Squadron, they were making a 12-mile march to honor those in uniform who went out to battle for the U.S. and never came back.

On March 1, 1952, Air Force 1st Lt. Raymond Plevyak, 22, took off in his F-51D Mustang fighter-bomber on a combat mission over North Korea and never returned. He is one of 7,751 American armed forces personnel still missing or unaccounted for from the Korean War.

Capt. Amy Svoboda was the Air Force's first female combat pilot killed on a mission, when she died May 27, 1997 during a tactical training mission on the Barry Goldwater range.

Jalen Robinette’s representatives released a statement Friday that sheds light into the reason the Air Force standout didn’t graduate with his classmates on Wednesday.

A scandal involving the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, the main point of entry for U.S. troops killed overseas, has rekindled with controversy over the care of astronaut John Glenn's body.

Kyle Jordan, 31, an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Korea, was to be sentenced Thursday for having sex with an unconscious woman he supervised at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The military’s highest court has overturned a former Aviano airman’s rape and assault conviction and prison sentence, saying that the case had been compromised by apparent unlawful command influence.

VIDEO

The Air Force showed off one of its newest and most high-tech intelligence-gathering platforms this week in western Tokyo.

Video and gallery

Nearly 1,000 cadets are beginning their military careers after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Football standout Jalen Robinette did not graduate with his Air Force class Wednesday. The academy released a statement, saying his graduation and commission were on hold for reasons unrelated to his professional football pursuits or any criminal wrongdoing.

After years of proposing to retire aging aircraft to meet reduced budgets, the Air Force said a proposed $10 billion increase for 2018 will allow it to retain its spy aircraft and fighter jets, which is critical during air operations against the Islamic State.

Officials determined last week that some wells near Fairchild Air Force Base, including three wells that serve a public water system, have been contaminated by perfluorinated compounds found in the firefighting foam used on the base for decades.

The Robins Honor Guard is most visible to the community when performing at public ceremonies at the Museum of Aviation and elsewhere. But its primary task is to serve in the funerals of Air Force veterans.

A noted Air Force command chief master sergeant who was removed from duty in November now faces two new charges for “indecent recording,” the service announced Monday.

Air Force Col. Case Cunningham has been selected to replace Brig. Gen. Barry Cornish as commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

The event has been hosted by the base for several years and was expanded last year to include children in the community with no military connection so they can try to have a better appreciation of the military,

Seaman Apprentice Savannah Cagle and Airman 1st Class Gabriel Antonio Fuentes-Lebron died while riding on a motorcycle that collided with a car in Chatan town, Okinawa, according to U.S. military officials.

Air Force Academy Cadet Kaleb Estes was described as an inspiration and a leader others gladly followed. He was a cadet who always seemed to be in motion, pursuing his own adventures while counseling others on their plans.

A sailor and an airman were killed after a head-on collision between a motorcycle and a car Thursday night in Chatan town, Okinawa, U.S. military officials said.

The intercept occurred Wednesday over the East China Sea, where the WC-135 Constant Phoenix was "conducting a routine mission," said Lt. Col. Lori Hodge, a Pacific Air Forces spokeswoman.

A fighter pilot who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985 will return to lead the school, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

Since wresting the Air Force KC-46 tanker contract away from rival Airbus in 2011, Boeing has struggled through cost overruns and multiple design problems. Yet company officials offered assurances that the program is now on track.

"Any of us that know Devin know that the sacrifice he made, he would make it again if he had to," his mother said. "I won't make him out to be a saint, but I can say that his last deed was a good one. And that's something that we can be proud of."

Modifications to the F-35A Lightning II’s ejection seat and helmet mean pilots weighing less than 136 pounds will no longer be restricted from flying the aircraft.

The body of a Japan-based airman who died from a fall at Aha Falls near Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, has returned home to Pennsylvania.

The unit of Wichita-based Textron Aviation said in a statement on Monday that its Scorpion multimission tactical jet and Beechcraft AT-6 will participate in the Air Force’s evaluation of aircraft to augment its aging fleet of A-10 Warthogs that provide close-air support to ground forces.

The Pentagon's inspector general has opened a review into whether the Air Force has imposed excessive secrecy on fundamentals of its $80 billion program to develop and build the new B-21 bomber.

It’s unclear if employees or officials at military bases across the U.S. are required to report undocumented immigrants who visit the bases to ICE. A spokeswoman for Travis did not say if there are any such policies in place.

Two U.S. Air Force airmen convinced a woman not to jump from an interstate bridge on Wednesday, the Midwest City, Okla., police chief said Thursday.

The U.S. Air Force plans to award a radar contract worth up to $1.3 billion to Raytheon Co. and Saab Defense and Security of DeWitt, ending a decade-long battle among three defense industry giants.