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There were six violations of a restricted airspace over Bedminster, New Jersey, while President Donald Trump was staying at his residence there over the weekend, the U.S. Air Force said.
One of those violations—all by general aviation aircraft—required an intercept by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) fighter jets.
This is a developing article. Updates to follow.
Firefighters with the 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron test hose water pressure before an exercise Aug. 14, 2015, at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. In January, New Mexico environment officials cited the base for a spill of wastewater containing firefighting foam with PFAS which soaked into the aquifer after a retaining pond leaked. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Alex Mercer)
In mid-July, Neil Dolly left Albuquerque near dawn and headed to Clovis. Under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act, he and his co-workers with the New Mexico Environment Department have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of hazardous waste sites, take samples and shoot photos.
Parked at a gas station near Cannon Air Force Base, Dolly called the base to confirm names and email addresses. About 30 minutes later, he emailed officials to say he was arriving.
Once inside, base officials and attorneys told Dolly and his assistant they wouldn’t be allowed to collect soil and water samples to test for PFAS. According to Dolly, they cited ongoing litigation between the state and the Pentagon.
No one paying attention to New Mexico’s PFAS saga should be surprised that the military kept Dolly from doing his job. But we should all stay alert to how the U.S. government thwarts the ability — indeed, the right — of states to protect their lands, waters and people.
Patented in the 1940s, PFAS, or Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances have been used since then in cookware, clothing, food wrappers, furniture and firefighting foams. The same qualities that make them useful — water and sunlight don’t destroy their molecules of joined carbon and fluorine atoms — also make them hard to clean up. Instead of breaking down over time, they move up the food chain, persisting in soils and waters and accumulating in the bodies of animals and humans. Some people refer to this toxic family as “forever chemicals.”
In 2018, the Air Force notified New Mexico officials that tests at Cannon — and Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo — detected perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Firefighting foams the military started using in the 1970s had contaminated groundwater with PFOA and PFOS, just two of the thousands of compounds in the PFAS family.
When New Mexico called for cleanup, the U.S. Department of Defense sued, challenging the state’s authority. Currently, the state is part of a multi-district federal lawsuit seeking past and future clean-up costs and all natural resource damages at Cannon Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, Kirtland Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range and Fort Wingate. And in June, the state filed another lawsuit, ordering the Pentagon to clean up the plume at Cannon under a new law that clarifies the state’s ability to regulate hazardous PFAS, even if the federal government has neglected to set standards for the chemicals.
By now, the contaminated plume is roughly six miles long, and New Mexicans have spent about $12 million on litigation. We’ve spent millions more testing well water and residents’ blood and connecting rural Curry County residents to a public water system because they can’t safely drink their well water.
“I spend a lot of time battling the PFAS monster that is just omnipresent every day with some new filing or some new denial of access or whatever it is,” NMED Secretary James Kenney told me in an interview. “There is no single more recalcitrant polluter, that is more litigious, than the Department of Defense.”
Kenney says he’s frustrated that the Pentagon keeps trampling the rights of states like New Mexico that are grappling with PFAS contamination. “Where is this notion of cooperative federalism, that states rights are supreme when implementing federal law?” he asks. “I feel like the Department of Defense is giving the middle finger salute to Congress, and they’re OK with it.”
Meanwhile, the toxic chemicals have traveled beyond Cannon into the Ogallala Aquifer, and into the blood of people working on and living near the base. A few years ago, Art Schaap, whose dairy farm overlooks Cannon, euthanized 3,500 cows because their blood — and milk — was poisoned.
More recently, the state released test results for 628 people who worked on or lived near Cannon, all but two of whom had at least one type of PFAS in their blood, and more than 90% of whom tested positive for multiple types of the toxic chemicals.
PFAS’ threat to human health is well known.
Beginning in the 1960s, manufacturers like 3M and DuPont knew from testing workers and nearby water supplies that different PFAS chemicals caused reproductive and development problems; birth defects; liver and kidney disease; and immune system problems. Additional studies have linked exposure to high cholesterol, low infant birth weights, and certain cancers, along with thyroid and hormone disruption.
As a longtime environment reporter, I have witnessed generations of state officials try to protect public health and rein in legacy pollution from federal installations. Despite the massive amount of money American taxpayers invest in the Pentagon — more than a trillion dollars this year alone — the federal government continues to punt on cleanup and put people, and our precious waters, at risk.
At Kirtland Air Force Base, for example, 24 million gallons of jet fuel leaked into the aquifer — and still hasn’t been cleaned up. Los Alamos National Laboratory has long polluted tributaries of the Rio Grande, and few people want to consider what lies in the sediment at the bottom of Cochiti Lake. At White Sands Test Facility, the U.S. Army and NASA have contaminated groundwater with multiple pollutants. Confirmed PFAS contamination also has been established at Fort Wingate Depot, the Santa Fe Army Aviation Support Facility, the Army National Guard’s Roswell Field Maintenance Shop and White Sands Missile Range.
New Mexico will become increasingly arid, and our water challenges will only get tougher. We can all see the parched forests and fields, shallow reservoirs and drying riverbeds. We should also be clear-eyed about the legacy of federal pollution, and what all that contaminated water means for the state’s future. That is water lost to farms, families and the future. And the recently renamed U.S. Department of War isn’t likely to prioritize cleanup anytime soon.
As the federal government openly challenges — or just ignores — the authority of states to protect their own lands, waters and people, New Mexicans can’t be kept in the dark about what we face from legacy or emerging pollutants. And New Mexicans on opposite sides of the political aisle should at least align with one another to protect the state’s waters. No matter what else is happening in the country, our water future here in New Mexico depends on transparency and unity.
A U.S. spy plane has flown missions to Northeast Asia on five consecutive days to monitor potential missile launches from nuclear-armed North Korea, flight data showed.
Newsweek has reach out to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces for further comment via email. North Korea‘s embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
North Korea, which refuses to abandon its nuclear weapons, frequently launches missiles for tests and exercises over the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in South Korea. It has also developed long-range missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland with nuclear warheads.
The U.S. Air Force operates a range of reconnaissance aircraft for different missions and often deploys them to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa Island in Japan‘s southwestern waters. It is a key U.S. military hub in the Western Pacific for projecting power in contingencies.
The recent American spy flights come as satellite imagery revealed suspected activity at a rumored secret site linked to North Korea’s nuclear program, and as leader Kim Jong Un toured a missile factory before departing for a military parade in China scheduled for Wednesday.
Using aircraft tracking data from the online service Flightradar24, a Newsweek map shows that an Air Force RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft—also known as Cobra Ball—began the first of five flights over the Sea of Japan from Kadena Air Base at around 2:30 a.m. local time on Friday.
The “rapidly deployable” aircraft, which is designed to collect optical and electronic data on ballistic missiles, was tracked flying northward and reaching the waters west of Japan’s main island of Honshu. The aircraft returned back to Okinawa after an almost 13-hour mission.
The same Cobra Ball aircraft flew similar early morning missions over the next four days. @MeNMyRC1, an open-source intelligence analyst on the social media platform X, said the aircraft was supported by an aerial refueling tanker to extend its time over the Sea of Japan.
Except for the mission on Saturday, for which Flightradar24 did not provide flight hours, the Cobra Ball aircraft flew close to 13 hours on three of the five flights. The most recent mission on Tuesday lasted six hours and was not supported by an aerial refueling tanker.
According to @MeNMyRC1, the Cobra Ball aircraft, registered as 61-2662, was deployed to Okinawa from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on July 15 but did not fly its first mission until August 8. Its second mission, tracked over the Sea of Japan, took place on August 14.
The U.S. Air Force said the Cobra Ball fleet, currently consisting of three aircraft, conducts missions directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that are of national priority. Data collected is critical to the development of U.S. strategic defense and theater missile defense concepts.
The U.S. Air Force said in a fact sheet: “The RC-135S, equipped with a sophisticated array of optical and electronic sensors, recording media, and communications equipment, is a national asset uniquely suited to provide America’s leaders and defense community with vital information that cannot be obtained by any other source.”
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said in its missile threat assessment report: “Missile threats to the U.S. homeland will expand in scale and sophistication in the coming decade. […] North Korea has successfully tested ballistic missiles with sufficient range to reach the entire Homeland.”
It remains to be seen whether North Korea will conduct missile tests or exercises during Kim’s visit to China. The U.S. military is likely to continue deploying reconnaissance aircraft near the Korean Peninsula to monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities.
🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The U.S. Air Force said an airman assigned to the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base was found dead in Shimoda, Japan.
He was found on Wednesday, August 20. The cause of death is under investigation, the Air Force said.
Officials did not immediately name the airman out of respect for his loved ones. His next-of-kin have been notified.
“Today is a difficult day for Team Yokota,” said Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander.
“Thank you to our installation law enforcement officials and local community partners within the Shimoda Police Service for their assistance.
“Those affected are on the front of our minds, and our base support agencies are standing by to support members of the community suffering from this loss.”
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Boeing overcharged the Air Force nearly $1 million for spare parts on C-17 cargo planes, including an 8,000% markup for simple lavatory soap dispensers, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
The Defense Department’s auditor reviewed prices paid for 46 spare parts on the C-17 from 2018 to 2022 and found that 12 were overpriced and nine seemed reasonably priced. It couldn’t determine the fairness of prices on the other 25 items.
The Office of the Inspector General said it reviewed the soap dispenser prices after getting a hotline tip.
Boeing disputed the findings.
“We are reviewing the report, which appears to be based on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet aircraft and contract specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17,” Boeing said in a statement. “We will continue to work with the OIG and the U.S. Air Force to provide a detailed written response to the report in the coming days.”
The C-17 Globemaster is one of the military’s largest cargo aircraft. It can carry multiple military vehicles, large pallets of humanitarian supplies or, in extreme circumstances, hundreds of people. The Air Force flew C-17s nonstop for two weeks during the hectic August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, evacuating more than 120,000 civilians fleeing the Taliban.
Since 2011, the U.S. government has awarded Boeing more than $30 billion in contracts to purchase needed spare parts for the C-17 and be reimbursed by the Air Force.
Boeing is still trying to recover from financial and reputational damage caused by two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 of its bestselling airline jet, the 737 Max.
This has been a particularly volatile year for the aerospace giant. It came under renewed scrutiny and federal investigations after a door plug flew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators limited Boeing production of the plane.
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government for misleading regulators who approved pilot training rules for the Max. That plea deal is pending before a federal judge in Texas.
Boeing is on its third chief executive in five years, having hired an outsider who joined the company in August. Last week, Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion because of charges for several commercial, defense and space programs.
A strike by 33,000 union machinists is now seven weeks old and has crippled production of 737s, 777s and 767 freighters, cutting off much-need cash. New CEO Kelly Ortberg has announced roughly 17,000 layoffs, and the company will issue new stock to raise up to $19 billion to shore up its debt-laden balance sheet.
Koenig reported from Dallas.
Under a sunny Colorado sky at Pikes Peak National Cemetery, Kennedy Pugh took a breath Thursday afternoon, bracing himself as members of the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard slid a gleaming silver casket out of a hearse.
His brother, Alvin Pugh, was finally home.
As Taps echoed through the cemetery, the Honor Guard draped a flag over the casket, and the priest from the Pugh family’s parish in Pueblo began the ritual of laying Alvin to rest.
“It was beautiful,” Kennedy said.
This was Alvin Pugh’s second burial, though. His two sisters and three brothers didn’t attend his first one. They didn’t even know about it.
On Feb. 21, 2023, about 1,800 miles away from Colorado, the Department of Veterans Affairs mistakenly buried 60-year-old Pugh as an unclaimed veteran in Calverton National Cemetery in New York. After The War Horse reported on the Pugh family’s ordeal three months ago, the VA pledged to reinter Alvin Pugh at Pikes Peak and cover all costs.
“I’m at peace,” said Patti Pugh, Alvin’s sister, after the burial, which included the traditional 21-gun salute, and a surprise touch Alvin would’ve loved. The Blue Angels were practicing for an air show in nearby Colorado Springs, and as his family prepared for the burial, their jets roared overhead in formation.
Most unclaimed veterans don’t find such a resolution. For decades, bureaucracy and a lack of coordination among Veterans Affairs and local agencies have allowed the remains of tens of thousands of veterans who die alone to pile up in funeral homes and morgues around the country, some collecting dust for more than 100 years.
Had the VA checked Pugh’s medical records, they would’ve seen one of his sisters, Theresa, listed as a contact. But when Pugh died in his New York City apartment on Feb. 2, 2022, from a pulmonary embolism, the medical examiner didn’t find any evidence of family members at his home or in city public records. All his siblings live in Colorado, and his parents died years ago.
The medical examiner’s office did, however, discover a VA prescription in his apartment, and reported Alvin as an unclaimed veteran. The agency took their word, never looking to see if Pugh’s records in their system indicated otherwise.
More than 40 years ago, in 1981, Pugh announced to his family that he was joining the Air Force, following in the footsteps of his father and two uncles who also served in the military.
Kennedy recalls his brother being proud of his time in uniform. Alvin deployed to Germany and the Persian Gulf, earning achievement medals for his work in intelligence and the rank of staff sergeant before an honorable discharge in 1995.
Despite his family’s deep military connections, and a family he often talked to in Colorado, Pugh mistakenly became one of the 2,300 “unclaimed veterans” buried by VA’s National Cemetery Administration across the country last year. By law, the VA is required to ensure that deceased veterans without a next of kin receive dignified burials, with a casket or urn.
Veterans Affairs recently surveyed funeral homes and counted 21,000 unclaimed deceased veterans. Don Gerspach, director of the Missing in America Project, told The War Horse in May that that number seems low. There’s “probably 100,000 or more out there,” said Gerspach, whose nonprofit has located and identified unclaimed veterans and provided thousands of proper burials since 2007.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has tried to improve its handling of unclaimed vets. Until April 2023, no one in the agency was responsible for overseeing burials, but the VA’s Pension and Fiduciary Service Office is now in charge. Its coordinators throughout the country search the entire VA system to find a next-of-kin.
The Pughs only learned of Alvin’s accidental burial in March when Patti was conducting one of her many online searches in hopes of discovering her brother’s whereabouts. For two years, she and her siblings could not find a trace of him. Then, this past March, Findagrave.com popped up: Calverton National Cemetery, section 51A, site 2098.
In the months since, she and her siblings have pushed for the VA to correct its error and bring their brother back to Colorado.
In a statement, VA spokesman Terrence Hayes said the agency was glad to honor the wishes of the Pugh family and that, “moving forward, we will continue to review and improve our policies to prevent issues like this from happening again.”
Kennedy Pugh is relieved that the burial has finally happened, but he says there are parts of this ordeal that remain hurtful. After the New York Medical Examiner identified Pugh as an unclaimed veteran, all of his belongings, including photos and other personal items, were thrown away.
And after they learned Alvin had died this past spring, his devoutly Catholic siblings held a funeral mass without their brother’s body. Usually the ache of a funeral and burial is contained to one day, and for Kennedy, grief swelled when he saw his brother’s casket for the first time.
“It felt more like, this is real,” he said.
It also felt like proper closure.
A childhood friend of Alvin’s who went to boot camp with him arrived out of the blue. And members of the Colorado Patriot Guard Riders showed up, held flags, and paid their respects.
“They kept on coming up to us and saying how honored they were to be there,” Kennedy said, fighting tears. “We were honored that they were there.”
When the burial service ended, and the small crowd of family and close friends drifted, Kennedy and one of his brothers laid their hands on Alvin’s casket. They took a moment — an overdue and final goodbye.
Anne Marshall-Chalmers
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World War II Air Force veteran Major Richard Olson never discussed his military service with his son, Dick Olson.
“I didn’t have all that much time to be asking these questions while he was at home,” Dick, a Westminster resident, told the Denver Post in an interview. “He was a distant father, and I imagine a lot of that came from what happened to him during the war and in service.”
After Richard died, Dick turned to military archives, old photos and interviews with the surviving members of his father’s B-24 Liberator airplane crew to learn about the veteran’s journey. Through his research, Dick discovered that his father, despite being seriously injured in a plane crash before enduring months as a prisoner of war, had never received a Purple Heart.
For seven years, Dick worked to correct the oversight. In April, the Air Force agreed to posthumously award Richard a Purple Heart.
The veteran was 22 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in February 1941, according to his son. The service was renamed the U.S. Army Air Forces in June of that year and became the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
“He grew up through the Depression and everything else,” Dick told The Post. “I think he joined because he was looking for three square meals a day.”
Courtesy of Dick Olson
Richard Olson (bottom center) poses with a B-24 crew after completing a six hour training flight. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Dick Olson)
Olson later became the co-pilot of a B-24 bomber plane in the 484th Bombardment Group combat unit. A week after D-Day, while stationed in southern Italy, his crew was shot down over the Adriatic Sea by eight German fighter planes while flying to Munich.
“They lost an engine, and they couldn’t keep up with the rest of the bombers, so they had to turn around to go back,” Dick said. “Two of the gunners were killed on the plane. And then the plane was set on fire and I think they had two more engines shot out.
“But there was a big fire in the bomb bay so they had to get out of the plane. So they did, and everybody bailed out, the ones that were still alive.”
Shell fragments struck Olson’s leg and he sustained a back injury that left him with chronic pain.
Most of the men landed on the Italian coastline northeast of Venice, according to conversations Dick had with B-24 crew member John Hassan. He was transferred to two other POW camps and after 10 months of incarceration, Olson was liberated on April 29, 1945, from Moosburg, Germany.
“He just said it was a very dull existence and of course they were hungry all the time,” Dick told The Post. “There was not a whole lot to do there. They played sports and the American Red Cross supplied them with books and boardgames and sporting equipment and different things to keep their morale up.”
Courtesy of Dick Olson
Richard Olson’s identification card from his time as a POW in Stalag Luft III. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Dick Olson)
Olson stayed in the Air Force for 16 years after his liberation from the POW camp and became a major, father and husband before leaving the military in 1961, according to his obituary.
“My parents split when I was about 13,” Dick said. “He moved away from the household and they got divorced.”
After the divorce in 1969, Dick saw Richard three more times before the veteran passed away in 1996 from multiple myeloma.
“I was always interested in his Air Force career. And since he never talked about these other guys, I wanted to find them and talk to them myself,” Dick said.
He connected with John Hassan, the navigator in Richard’s B-24 crew, in 1997. “Going through some of his papers, I found a phone number for John and called him up and started looking for all the other crew members also,” Dick said, “I eventually did make contact with the ones that were living or family members for the ones who had passed away.
“John was my dad’s best friend on the crew and we became really good friends,” Dick added. “He pretty much had a photographic memory, so that’s how I know an awful lot about that crew.”
While researching the crew, Dick helped the plane’s bombardier, Walter Chapman, get a Distinguished Flying Cross he should have been awarded decades prior.
Like Chapman, Olson was also missing an award: a Purple Heart for sustaining an injury while in the line of duty.
“There was mention of everything else, like the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medals,” Dick said. “All the ribbons and medals that he was entitled to, except for the Purple Heart.”
Olson’s capture as a POW right after the B-24 crash meant his wounds went undocumented. In 2017, Dick decided to file a claim with the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records and prove that his father had been injured. “I thought to myself, this is unfinished business, I’ve got to see if I can get this thing,” Dick said.
After an extensive filing process, the Board for Correction rejected Dick’s request in 2020.
Brian Schenk, founder of Midwest Military and Veterans Law, agreed to work with Dick pro bono and together, they took the Board for Correction to federal court, determined to prove that Olson had been injured during active duty.
“Dick Olson’s father was a war hero and he had such extreme humility that he himself never sought a Purple Heart,” Schenk told the Denver Post.
“I thought to myself, the old man went through the wringer, and he deserves to have this,” Dick said. “I told the Air Force in the letter that I wrote with my first application that I’m doing it for his legacy and for posterity. People should know that he was injured fighting for his country.”
On April 23, Dick won his case and the Board for Correction agreed to posthumously grant Olson a Purple Heart Award.
“He would have been real happy to wear this purple heart,” Dick said. “I think he would have been pretty proud of the fight we put up to make this happen.”
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Julianna O'Clair
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The girlfriend of a U.S. Air Force airman who was shot and killed by a Florida sheriff’s deputy last week witnessed the shooting over FaceTime, an attorney for the airman’s family and his mother said Thursday. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave, and a state agency is investigating the shooting.
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was on FaceTime with his girlfriend when he heard knocking on his door, saw no one through the peephole and got his gun, attorney Ben Crump said during a news conference. The deputy entered Fortson’s apartment, saw him with his gun and shot him, Crump said.
Fortson’s mother Chantimekki Fortson told reporters her son’s girlfriend was devastated from the shooting.
“She literally watched them walk over him as he was dying, taking his last breath,” Fortson said.
Crump didn’t identify the girlfriend but said she has an attorney.
“She was afraid that she just heard them and watch them kill her boyfriend,” Crump told reporters.
U.S. Air Force via AP
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in the Florida panhandle said in a statement the unidentified deputy was responding to a disturbance call and acted in self-defense.
“All of us at the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office are saddened about the fatal officer involved shooting over the weekend,” Sheriff Eric Aden said in a statement.
(Reuters) -The U.S. Air Force said on Friday that it has awarded a $13 billion contract to Sierra Nevada Corp to develop a successor to the E-4B, known as the Doomsday plane due to its ability to survive a nuclear war.
The Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) project is intended to replace the aging 1970s-era aircraft, which is approaching end-of-service life, an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement.
Work on the SAOC will be carried out in Colorado, Nevada and Ohio and is expected to be completed in 2036, the Air Force added.
To satisfy operational requirements, the weapon system will comprise of a commercial derivative jet hardened and modified to meet military requirements.
Reuters in December reported that the U.S. Air Force eliminated Boeing from its competition to develop a successor to the E-4B Nightwatch.
While typically used to transport the U.S. secretary of defense, the E-4B is designed as a mobile command post capable of withstanding nuclear blasts and electromagnetic effects, allowing U.S. leaders to deliver orders to the military in the event of a national emergency.
The E-4B is also capable of refueling mid-air and features conference and briefing rooms and advanced communications equipment.
The Air Force currently operates four E-4B aircraft with at least one on alert at all times. The fleet of highly-modified Boeing 747-200 jumbo jets has become increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain as parts become obsolete.
The E-4B is expected to reach the end of its service life in the early 2030s.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Washington — President Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Friday are attending the dignified transfer of the remains of three U.S. soldiers who were killed in an aerial drone attack at an outpost in Jordan last weekend.
The president and first lady are joining Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff C.Q. Brown at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to meet with the fallen soldiers’ families. After the meeting, the officials and family members will observe the somber transfer of the bodies returning home from abroad. The transfer is set to take place at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The three soldiers killed in the attack were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46; Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24; and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23. All three were from Georgia.
The strike on the facility in Jordan, known as Tower 22, also injured dozens of U.S. service members. The U.S. has blamed an Iranian-backed militant group based in Iraq for the attack.
Defense Department
Mr. Biden has said he has decided how to respond to the strike, although he hasn’t publicly telegraphed his intentions. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria.
“This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin, the defense chief, said Thursday. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”
A dignified transfer is the process by which the remains of fallen military members are transferred from an aircraft to a vehicle so they can be taken to a mortuary facility. From there, the bodies are prepared for their final resting place and placed in caskets. The U.S. military stresses that dignified transfers are solemn events, not ceremonies.
David Martin contributed to this report.
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Major Kenny Thomas isn’t just following his own dreams of flying. He’s also introducing the dream to others by inspiring a new generation to take to the skies.
Thomas has loved airplanes since he was a kid.
“I used to get the books from the library that just had pictures of airplanes, the airplane encyclopedias,” he said.
The Air Force reservist was 28 when he first flew a plane, but he wished he had started flying sooner.
“I remember on one of my first flights, I flew up to the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and I remember seeing a bunch of kids out there, flying. And I was like, ‘Man, how come I didn’t know about something like this when I was their age?’” said Thomas. “And that was one of the things that sparked me to be like, ‘All right. I gotta find a way to be able to give kids who were me that same experience and exposure.’”
Now, Thomas leads the nonprofit Legacy Flight Academy.
“We want to make sure that people in all communities have the same access to being able to get jobs as pilots,” Thomas said.
Only 2% of pilots in the U.S. are Black. Thomas and his volunteers want to change that by getting kids in planes and teaching them history.
“The foundation of Legacy Flight Academy is the Tuskegee Airmen. We want to live the legacy, which is what we’re doing by having excellence, having integrity, by setting goals. We’re living the legacy,” he said. “And then growing the legacy is when we can go out and we find these students, and we help them get to where they can reach their goals and reach their dreams.
Shaniya Marshall is a pilot today thanks to Thomas. “Legacy Flight Academy gave me my first scholarship for $7,500, which allowed for me to finish my private pilot’s license.
“I never thought of it as more than a childhood dream,” she said.
For Thomas, the reward is seeing students thrive.
“When you’re flying with a student, and you’re trying to teach them something, and all of a sudden they get the ‘ah hah’ moment, it makes you feel like all the work you’re putting in with them, all the energy and all the time, is worth it.”
The U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday that it is grounding its entire fleet of Osprey aircraft after investigators learned that the Osprey crash last week off the coast of Japan that killed all eight U.S. airmen aboard may have been caused by an equipment malfunction.
Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, said in a statement that he ordered the “operational standdown” of all CV-22 Ospreys after a “preliminary investigation” indicated the crash may have been caused by “a potential materiel failure.”
However, the exact cause of that failure is still unknown, Bauernfeind said.
“The standdown will provide time and space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the Air Force CV-22 fleet returns to flight operations,” Bauernfeind said.
The move comes after Tokyo formally asked the U.S. military to ground its Ospreys in Japan until thorough inspections could be carried out to confirm their safety.
The Osprey, assigned to Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, was on a training flight when it crashed Nov. 29 off the southern Japanese island of Yakushima. It had departed from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture and was headed to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, but requested an emergency landing on Yakushima just before crashing off the shore.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft flipped over and burst into flames before plunging into the ocean.
STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images
So far, the remains of three of the eight crew members have been recovered. Divers from both the U.S. and Japanese militaries earlier this week located a significant portion of the fuselage of the submerged wreckage, with the bodies of the remaining five crew members still inside.
There have been several fatal U.S. Osprey crashes in recent years. Most recently an aircraft went down during a multinational training exercise on an Australian island in August, killing three U.S. Marines and leaving eight others hospitalized. All five U.S. Marines on board another Osprey died in June of 2022 when the aircraft crashed in the California desert.
The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft used to move troops and supplies. It can take off and land like a helicopter, but can also fly like a plane.
— Lucy Craft, Tucker Reals and Elizabeth Palmer contributed to this report.
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A Chinese fighter jet conducted an “unsafe intercept” of a U.S. Air Force B-52 over the South China Sea earlier this week, the Pentagon said Thursday. Video of the Tuesday night confrontation was released by the Defense Department.
According to the Pentagon, the 38-second video shows the pilot of a Shenyang J-11 coming within 10 feet of the B-52, which is a long-range heavy bomber.
The Pentagon said the Chinese pilot “flew in an unsafe and unprofessional manner” and “demonstrated poor airmanship by closing with uncontrolled excessive speed.”
The Pentagon said it was “concerned” that China’s fighter pilot “was unaware of how close he came to causing a collision.”
U.S. Defense Department
The B-52 was conducting routine nighttime operations when the confrontation occurred, and had limited visibility, the Pentagon stated. Furthermore, the Chinese fighter jet’s intercept “violated international air safety rules and norms.”
Since the fall of 2021, China’s military has initiated more than 180 similar interactions with aircraft of the U.S. military and other nations, according to the Pentagon.
In one such incident on May 26, also over the South China Sea, the pilot of a Chinese J-16 fighter flew directly in front of the nose of an RC-135, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft. The two aircraft came within 400 feet of each other, and the RC-135 was forced to fly through the J-16’s wake turbulence, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reported.
“There have been a series of these actions directed not just at us but at other countries in recent months,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the time.
There have also been confrontations at sea. In June, a Chinese navy ship cut across the path of an U.S. Navy missile destroyer in the Taiwan Strait, with the two ships coming within 150 yards.
China often conducts drills in the Taiwan Strait. It considers Taiwan, an island just off its east coast that’s been democratically governed for seven decades, part of its sovereign territory.
— Eleanor Watson and Elizabeth Palmer contributed to this report.
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For the second time in two days, Russian fighter jets on Thursday engaged in “unsafe and unprofessional behavior” towards U.S. Air Force drones over Syria, U.S. military officials said.
MQ-9 Reaper drones were carrying out an operation against Islamic State targets at about 9:30 a.m. local time Thursday when several Russian jets “dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close,” according to a statement from Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, commander of the Ninth Air Force, an Air Force Service Component of U.S. Central Command.
Video of the confrontation was also released by the Air Force. No further details were provided.
It followed a similar incident Wednesday morning, also over Syria, in which three MQ-9 drones were harassed by three Russian fighter jets while also on a mission against ISIS, the Air Force said.
In that instance, according to Grynkewich, the jets dropped “multiple parachute flares in front of the drones,” subsequently forcing them to “conduct evasive maneuvers.”
This marks at least the third such confrontation this year between U.S. drones and Russian fighter jets. The Pentagon in March released video of a Russian fighter jet colliding with an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone in international air space, causing the drone to crash into the Black Sea.
“The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows, and it is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time.
According to the Air Force, an MQ-9 Reaper drone is primarily used for intelligence gathering, but can also be equipped with up to eight laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
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President Biden tripped and fell onstage at the commencement ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado on Thursday as he returned to his seat after nearly two hours of shaking hands with graduates.
The president was walking across the raised platform when he stumbled over a black sandbag and fell to the ground. He was quickly helped to his feet and appeared to be unhurt. He took a seat behind the lectern and left the stage when the ceremony concluded soon afterward, jogging to his motorcade.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director, said on Twitter that Mr. Biden was “fine.” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed that statement, saying he feels “totally fine” and boarded Air Force One with “a big smile.”
Mr. Biden addressed the 921 graduates earlier in the ceremony for about 30 minutes, hailing the strength of the U.S. military and touching on several foreign policy topics, including Ukraine, China and NATO.
On his way into the White House after flying back to Washington, the president ignored reporters’ questions except to joke, referring to his fall that “I got sandbagged!”
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A Chinese fighter jet performed an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” in an intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft last week, according to a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command statement.
The pilot of a Chinese J-16 fighter flew directly in front of — and within 400 feet of the nose of the RC-135 — forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence. The intercept occurred while the reconnaissance plane was operating in international air space over the South China Sea on May 26.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” the statement said. “We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law.”
In Sweden Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. plane was flying on a “routine mission” in international airspace “the Chinese pilot took dangerous action in approaching the plane very, very closely.” He added, “There have been a series of these actions directed not just at us but at other countries in recent months.”
On Wednesday, Beijing blamed U.S. “provocation” for the incident, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” AFP quotes foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as saying.
The Pentagon released a video of the interaction on Tuesday. The video, taken from the cockpit of the U.S. reconnaissance plane, shows the Chinese jet appearing to approach just in front of the plane before veering off, and then the video shakes as the U.S. plane hits turbulence.
screen grab from video captured from cockpit of spy plane, U.S. military video
The Chinese pilot’s menacing behavior occurred as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin departed Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for his seventh trip to the Indo-Pacific region. Late Monday, the Pentagon said China had rejected an invitation for a meeting between Austin and Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu on the sidelines of an annual defense summit they’re both attending in Singapore.
Blinken called it “regrettable” that Austin was not able to meet with Li said it underscored “why it is so important that we have regular, open lines of communication, including – by the way – between our defense ministers.”
The unsafe maneuver is part of a broader pattern, according to the Pentagon. A spokesperson for U.S. Indo-Pacific command said the U.S. has seen “an alarming increase in the number of risky aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea” by Chinese military aircraft and vessels.
For instance, in December, a Chinese jet flew within 20 feet of the nose of a U.S. RC-135 and forced the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, the command said in a statement.
Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.
Washington — Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown, Jr., and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass, are both firsts in their roles. Brown is the first Black man to serve as chief of staff, while Bass is the first woman to earn chief master sergeant title.
“One of the things I really believe is young people only aspire to be what they see,” Brown told CBS News this week. “You don’t decide to grow up to be something you’ve never seen.”
“It is humbling,” Bass said of being the first woman to serve as chief master sergeant. “And it’s an honor to be able to serve alongside heroes and visionaries like these people.”
All military branches are struggling to recruit and retain servicemembers. There are multiple factors to this, including a pervasive culture of harassment and bullying.
“I’m very focused on developing the culture within organizations where all of our airmen can reach their full potential,” Brown said. “Where they have zero detractors, whether it’s sexual assault, discrimination, harassment, bullying. Those are the areas, and that takes leadership.”
When asked about allegations from sexual abuse survivors who believe the Air Force is letting perpetrators get away with their crimes, Brown said that “our goal is to hold all those accountable.”
“Can we do better? Yes. As always, room for improvement,” he added.
Brown also explained what he believes the Air Force can do to make it easier for people to join.
“There’s five key things that impact military families: child care, education, housing, health care and spousal employment,” Brown said. “Those are the things that really help us with the retention and support, not only our military members but more importantly, our military families.”
May 20 marks Armed Forces Day, when the nation honors those who serve, past and present across all branches of the military.
“We want America to know some of the caliber of the men and women who serve in the U.S. military,” Bass said. “They are probably some of the most talented, most educated people in our nation. They inspire me every single day.”
