Alert 5

A Chinese national who returned to photograph Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, after being warned to stop has been sentenced to six months in federal custody, in a case that Air Force officials say reflects a broader shift in how the service is policing activity around its most sensitive installations. Whiteman is located in west-central Missouri, roughly 65 miles southeast of Kansas City, and is the only base in the country that hosts the B-2.

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Continue reading “Whiteman AFB case signals shift in how USAF polices base security”

A U.S. Air Force C-17 grounded after a severe storm drove two private jets into its fuselage returned to service Jul. 30, thanks to a repair process that Air Force officials say cut what could have been a two-year fix down to about five months.

U.S. Air Force courtesy image
Continue reading “When no vendor would build the part, the U.S. Air Force built it themselves”

On the flight line at RAAF Base Darwin, the RAF Voyager sitting among the fighter jets of Exercise Pitch Black looks, at first glance, like the support act. It is not built to dogfight. Its job is to keep other aircraft fueled, to move people and freight across long distances, and, when needed, to carry patients home. But spend twenty minutes walking through its cabin, as a group of journalists did last week, and it becomes clear the aircraft is doing more heavy lifting in this exercise than its size in the formation might suggest.

Continue reading “Inside the Voyager: How the RAF’s tanker doubles as a flying hospital at Pitch Black”

Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura, chief of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), said his visit to Exercise Pitch Black in Australia is meant to sharpen his forces’ ability to work alongside allied militaries as the country moves away from decades of internal security operations toward a broader mission of territorial defense.

Continue reading “Philippine Air Force Chief says Pitch Black Exercise central to shift toward territorial defense”

A small number of Indonesian T-50 advance jet trainers are training in Darwin this month, marking the first time the unit has taken part in Exercise Pitch Black and the first time it has deployed to Australia at all. Squadron 15, based at Iswahjudi Air Base in Madiun, East Java, brought fifteen pilots for the exercise, flying two sorties a day during last week’s force integration phase, a number set to rise to four sorties daily over the next two weeks as the exercise enters its force employment phase.

Continue reading “Indonesia’s Golden Eagles land in Darwin for first Pitch Black deployment”