Driving along Interstate 35 in Owatonna, Minnesota, you can’t miss the giant jets near the airport.
“Really, they come from all corners of the country,” said Dave Beaver, airport manager. “We had an arrival yesterday from Florida, California, Colorado.”
At Owatonna’s Degner Regional Airport, planes are coming and going. But there are three on site that never take off, yet they never touch the ground.
“That display is really something else,” said Beaver. “We routinely see people stop off the interstate, come in and ask questions and take pictures.”
The story begins years ago when the city acquired one of the T-38 Talon Thunderbird jets from the Air Force. Then Buzz Kaplan, an Army veteran and local plane enthusiast, acquired two more. In 2006, they began the process of moving the T-38’s, departing from an Owatonna museum and arriving at the airport.
“It was quite a feat to move those three aircraft a quarter mile,” said Matt Thurnau, Chairman of the Owatonna Airport Commission. “They had trucks and trains and moved them slowly down the road.”
Moving them was one thing, positioning them was another. Supporters wanted the T-38s to be pointed skyward. They’re positioned in a flying formation called the “bomb burst,” according to Thurnau.
Each of the jets weighs more than 12,000 pounds. And it’s 70 feet from the noses of each of the planes, all the way down to the ground.
“There’s 308 tons of concrete and steel at the base of that. So, it’s not going anywhere,” said Thurnau.
And it’s a bit of an engineering marvel. Just this past summer, the monument withstood a storm with 70 mph wind gusts.
“The stands that the planes are on were tested in a wind tunnel, up to 113 miles an hour,” said Thurnau.
Don McCann is a long-time Owatonna resident and councilmember. He said the T-38’s aren’t just a landmark, they’re a salute to the men and women of the Air Force. Because when it comes to supporting those in service, the sky is the limit.
“I almost look at it as the gateway to Owatonna,” said McCann. “And that’s community coming together and doing something very iconic. And that’s really why we like it.”
Occasionally the jets have to be cleaned because of bird nests and other debris.
They also need to be painted from time to time, with all three jets receiving new paint jobs this past summer.
President Trump on Monday announced the Pentagon is ordering 28 new B-2 Spirit stealth bombers — the military jet that has for decades been the tip of the spear of America’s air defense and global operations, most recently against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“I think in terms of my lifetime, as an airman, this will be one of the most consequential raids that we’ve executed,” Col. Josh Wiitala told CBS News.
Wiitala commands the 509th Bomb Wing, based out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri — home to roughly 20 B-2 stealth bombers.
“I’ll tell you, the biggest moment of my career, not just as a commander, is when I knew our guys were safe,” he said of the operation.
Wiitala explains what makes the B-2 such an important aircraft: “There’s a lot of long-range aircraft out there. There’s a lot of aircraft that have a high payload. There’s also other stealth aircraft out there. But the only one that combines all three is the B-2.”
CBS News was given a rare up-close look at the bombers, but much of the design, which helps the plane slip into enemy airspace undetected by radar, remains classified.
“Stealth matters, and stealth matters even more today than it did when at its inception,” said Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost of Global Strike Command.
“Stealth is many things. It’s shape, it’s materials, it’s tactics,” Armagost said. “And so, we protect our stealth capabilities in a way, such that the advantages don’t accumulate to anyone else.”
It was Armagost who received the order from President Trump to carry out the strikes on Iran.
“My confidence was very high once we hit that tripwire,” he said.
Armagost acknowledged the strikes involved sending the B-2 stealth bombers into the airspace of the most advanced military adversary they’ve faced so far, but that still didn’t shake his confidence.
“We also know, you know, they’re not alone,” he said.
Stealth F-22 and F-35 tactical fighters escorted the B-2s into Iranian airspace.
“The performance was perfect,” Armagost said.
The 30,000-pound bombs, called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, used in the strikes were specifically designed to hit deep underground targets. Chief Master Sgt. Frank Espinoza and his team loaded 14 of them into the bombers for the mission to Iran.
“They all made it happen. Yeah. Flawlessly,” Espinoza said. “Any time we get the call, we’re going to deliver and we’re not going to miss a step.”
President Trump announced the Pentagon is ordering 28 new B-2 Spirit stealth bombers — the military jet that has for decades been the tip of the spear of America’s air defense and global operations, most recently against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ian Lee got rare access to the air base which operates the bomber fleet.
At Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, a test bed for a new kind of air force, Major Trent McMullen is a fighter pilot learning to fly alongside the XQ-58, a drone piloted by artificial intelligence. Think of this as “Top Gun AI.”
“I’ve flown safety chase on it for several missions, messaging back and forth with the autonomy on board,” said McMullen.
Maneuvering alongside an AI-piloted drone, he said, takes a bit of getting used to: “As humans, we fly very smooth, but it can roll and fly a little bit snappier than maybe a human pilot would,” McMullen acknowledged. “It could be a little bit rougher a ride, but there’s no human on board.”
Artificial intelligence is on board, and now it is learning how to fight.
McMullen said the tasks assigned to AI might be to intercept an adversary aircraft: “So, we’ve been able to give it some of the basic blocking and tackling of air combat that we as human pilots also train on when we’re first learning how to fly,” he said.
An XQ-58A AI-piloted drone takes off.
CBS News
The XQ-58 blasts off like a rocket, but a full-scale model took off from a runway for the first time in August.
General Adrian Spain, head of Air Combat Command, is drawing up plans for operating AI-piloted drones alongside manned aircraft. “You’ve told them to go out in front and to execute an attack on a complex set of targets, and they will do that,” Spain said.
He says AI drones are capable of doing that today – and those drones could be armed with weapons.
An AI-piloted F-16 has already held its own in a limited dogfight against an experienced fighter pilot. At Top Gun AI, other F-16s are being rewired for more realistic combat. Those aircraft still have a cockpit, and a pilot, who can engage the plug-and-play AI system, and then remain on board as a safety pilot.
An AI-piloted F-16 has already held its own in a limited dogfight against an experienced fighter pilot.
Pentagon
“So, once the AI goes on, the hands come off?” I asked.
“Yep, they’ll be monitoring the system and ready to take over at a moment’s notice,” McMullen said. “But we’ll also have real live aircraft out there for it to fight against. Those jets will be piloted by real fighter pilots trying their best to outsmart the AI.”
So, are we witnessing a revolution?
“If we continue down this path, it has the potential to be a revolution,” said Spain.
“You actually can take more risk”
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Clint Hinote says it is a revolution born of necessity: “The Air Force was so good for so long that it didn’t need to change. Now it needs to change, and it’s trying to figure out how.”
Change because the Chinese air force, which recently showcased its newest jet fighters and its own AI drone, could be more than a match for the U.S. Air Force. According to Hinote, “If we have to fight China, we’re likely doing it in their front yard, and that means they can bring many, many more things to bear than we can, because it’s so far away. You’re having to achieve kill ratios of 10 to 1, 15 to 1, and 20 to 1 to even stay in the game.”
I asked, “How do these war games come out when American pilots are going up against 20 to 1 odds?”
“The war games don’t turn out very well,” Hinote replied. “We lose.”
The Air Force is counting on AI drones to even the odds, by bringing to an aircraft what a human pilot doesn’t. McMullen said, “The big thing with artificial intelligence is the ability to handle large amounts of data. A human out in a complex air combat environment, there’s just no way to absorb all of it. Artificial intelligence might be able to take all of the data information, and then process that very quickly, and then make real-time decisions.”
AI drones will be about half the length of a manned jet fighter, and one-quarter the cost – $20 to 30 million each. Hinote said, “You could buy more airplanes, put them in the field, and still not break the bank. The key would be that you don’t have to bring the human operator home; you actually can take more risk.”
Spain says the Air Force expects to have 150 AI-piloted aircraft by the end of the decade, and eventually up to 1,000.
I asked, “These drones aren’t just going to sit in a hangar waiting for war with China. What are they going to do in peacetime?”
“It’s pretty wide open,” Spain replied.
“Could you send up AI drones to intercept those Russian bombers that come down off the coast of Alaska?”
“Yes, you could do that,” he said.
Those intercepts can turn nasty in an instant. Last year a Russian fighter rocked an American F-16, so AI drones would have to be prepared to shoot.
So, is AI going to be making life-or-death decisions? “Absolutely not,” said Spain. “Absolutely not. The human who’s controlling the AI will make the life-and-death decisions.”
At least for now.
Making life-or-death decisions
Hinote said, “Increasingly militaries around the world, including the United States military, are going to be pressured to give the machines more leeway in making those life-or-death decisions.”
Including the capability to fire on their own? “The United States military is investing in the experimentation that you would need to be able to produce the types of platforms that could fire on their own if you gave them that option,” Hinote said.
If adversaries let AI make those decisions, what happens? “I think they do so at their own peril,” said Spain. “Because the AI can be fooled, the AI can be overwhelmed. It can give you false outcomes. We’ve seen that AI can hallucinate. So, it’s not a guarantee of success. What it guarantees is that it will do something quickly.”
“Don’t you at least have to give your pilots that option?” I asked.
“To go full autonomy and just let it go? I don’t think America is comfortable with that yet,” Spain replied. “I’m not saying that couldn’t be a future world that we live in where we trust it. But I don’t think we’re there right now, certainly, and certainly not to start. We have to build that trust over time.”
At Top Gun AI, pilots keep putting in the reps, test flight after test flight, simulation after simulation, to build that trust.
Asked whether he would rather go into combat with a human wingman or an AI wingman, McMullen replied, “When we’re talking about the threats of tomorrow, if I can send an uncrewed asset into a high-risk environment, I’d rather do that than send a human pilot.”
In April, Anduril Industries co-founder Palmer Luckey arrived for his 60 Minutes interview in an outfit that’s become a signature look: shorts, flip-flops, and a colorful Hawaiian shirt. He was also sporting a mullet and a goatee.
“I’ve actually always wanted a mullet my whole life,” he laughingly told correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi about his distinctive hairstyle.
But while Luckey’s appearance is casual, his business is deadly serious. And the U.S. military is taking him seriously.
“I think I am very, very lucky that the level we are working with now is not judging Anduril on the basis of what shirt I wear or what my haircut is,” he told 60 Minutes.
Anduril Industries, the company he co-founded in 2017, makes drones, aircraft, and submarines that all run autonomously. They can use artificial intelligence for surveillance or to identify, select, and eliminate a target. No operator is required.
Alfonsi pointed out in an interview with Luckey that the idea of autonomous arms is scary to some people.
“It’s a scary idea, but, I mean, that’s the world we live in. I’d say it’s a lot scarier, for example, to imagine a weapons system that doesn’t have any level of intelligence at all,” Luckey said.
“There’s no moral high ground to making a land mine that can’t tell the difference between a school bus full of children and Russian armor… it’s not a question between smart weapons and no weapons. It’s a question between smart weapons and dumb weapons.”
On a large screen in a conference room, Luckey demonstrated Lattice, the AI platform that can coordinate these so-called “smart weapons” and collect data from various sensors and sources, including satellites, drones, radar, and cameras.
Alfonsi asked Luckey about concerns that AI-powered devices like these could go rogue.
“I would say that it is something to be aware of. But in the grand scheme of things… there’s things that I’m much more terrified of,” the tech billionaire replied.
“I’m a lot more worried about evil people with mediocre advances in technology than AI deciding that it’s gonna wipe us all out.”
In May, UN Secretary General António Guterres said lethal autonomous weapons are “politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be banned by international law.”
International groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch call autonomous lethal weapons “killer robots.”
Luckey has stated that all Anduril products have a so-called “kill switch” that allows humans to ultimately intervene in case of an emergency or undesired behavior.
Luckey also thinks sending autonomous weapons onto the battlefield could save the lives of American soldiers who would otherwise be killed in action.
“Right now, there are so many weapon systems that require manning,” Luckey told Alfonsi.
“If I can have one guy command and controlling a hundred aircraft, that’s a lot easier than having to have a pilot in every single one. And it puts a lot fewer American lives at risk.”
Anduril hopes to leap forward in unmanned combat with Fury, a fighter jet that’s designed to use artificial intelligence and fly without a pilot.
Co-founder and CEO Brian Schimpf took 60 Minutes into a hangar to show off Fury; it was the first time a media outlet was allowed to see the plane up close.
Fury is a CCA, or collaborative combat aircraft, that’s designed to work in coordination with a manned aircraft.
Anduril and longtime defense contractor General Atomics won contracts from the U.S. Air Force to develop and test CCAs that could eventually become the official CCAs of the Air Force.
“The first thing you notice about this plane is that there’s no cockpit. There is no seat. There’s no controls. There’s no stick and rudder inside this. And there’s no place for a human,” Schimpf told 60 Minutes Overtime.
“This is an autonomous fighter jet. It has software inside that can sense and understand everything going on in the airspace, and [it’s] able to react. And it works with a quarterback to be able to do this.”
Schimpf told 60 Minutes that Fury would work in conjunction with a manned aircraft flying behind it, spotting enemies and protecting the manned aircraft.
“In a combat environment, you would have these things sitting out in front, and they would detect the enemies earlier. They’d be able to engage. And it really is designed to protect those manned pilots sitting in the rear,” Schimpf explained.
Schimpf said components, like the landing gear, use common parts that are more readily available in the United States when compared to a typical fighter jet, which could make it easier and cheaper to mass produce.
“Instead of using very exquisite, big aircraft landing gear, which are hard to produce… we designed it so it can be built in any machine shop in America. Instead of using a military engine, we’ve been able to use a commercial business jet engine that [is] mass produced and readily available,” he explained.
Fury is scheduled to take its first test flight this summer. The Air Force hopes to have CCAs fully operational before the end of this decade.
“[We’re still] proving out the aircraft… we’re also working through how will these things be used in combat. We’re working through simulations and ways these can actually be employed,” Schimpf told 60 Minutes.
“This is a big deal beyond just making an airplane that flies. It’s an entirely new way of fighting.”
The video above was originally published on May 18, 2025. It was produced by Will Croxton and edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
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.
This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows Senior Airman Roger Fortson in a Dec. 24, 2019, photo.
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.
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
When the Air Force reopened its investigation into Leah Olszewski’s domestic violence case two years ago, they reviewed evidence most would consider damning — bodycam footage of her bruises after she called 911, an audio recording of her ex-partner threatening to knock her teeth out and accounts from four other victims who had experienced similar abuse. But the deadline to file charges came and went, and the military did not pursue the case.
In 2021, the Olszewski case was one of several detailed as part of a CBS News investigation about the military’s failure to protect victims of domestic violence and adequately discipline abusers within its ranks. Now, Olszewski, an inactive Reserve Major with the Army, believes the case stands as evidence of a fresh concern — how military brass are generous with promises of reform in the spotlight of a public relations scandal, but less so when the attention fades.
“Leaders should not be making promises that they can’t fulfill or have no intention of fulfilling,” said Carol Thompson, a former military prosecutor who is representing Olszewski and three other women making similar claims.
The four women are among nearly 40 domestic violence survivors CBS News spoke to over the course of a two-year investigation who reported abuse to the military. That investigation found that roughly 100,000 incidents of domestic abuse have been reported to the military since 2015.
Their harrowing stories in 2021 of abuse spurred immediate pledges of support and action from military leaders in the Army and Air Force. In response to CBS News’ reporting, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall ordered a comprehensive review of “the investigation and disciplinary actions associated with these cases” and made personal assurances to the survivors, according to new audio recordings obtained by CBS News of a phone call just weeks after the reports aired.
More than two years later, the women CBS News spoke with say the military failed to deliver on its public and private assurances.
Instead, they say the Air Force’s Inspector General report, made public in January, revealed the investigators had narrowed their scope. The report recommended the Air Force do more to establish trust with domestic violence victims, but did not examine “whether law enforcement conducted investigations correctly” or whether the appropriate disciplinary actions were taken.
L-R: Leah Olszewski, Liz Knight and Erica Johnson criticized the military’s response to their allegations of domestic violence.
CBS News
As a result, the four women — Olszewski, former Air Force Master Sergeant Erica Johnson, and civilians Emily Brearley and Liz Knight — have filed legal action under the Federal Tort Claims Act, accusing the military of “a purposeful public relations cover up.”
Citing ongoing legal proceedings, Kendall declined to comment on specific cases but provided a statement to CBS News saying, “we are implementing a series of changes to reinforce trust with survivors and strengthen our domestic violence prevention and response efforts, ensuring that we provide the best support possible to victims of domestic violence.”
“The Air Force is totally committed to getting this right to protect all those who’ve experienced abuse and to prevent this type of inexcusable trauma,” he said.
In an interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell, Thompson said that while all her clients would like to see their cases brought to court martial, only Emily Brearley’s assault allegations remain within the statute of limitations.
An Air Force Inspector General’s review of Brearley’s case concluded “the steps taken comported with Air Force and DoD standards for responding to [domestic violence],” despite not prosecuting her alleged abuser. Thompson pressed the Air Force for a legal review earlier this year, and last month — five years after she first reported the abuse — criminal charges were filed in Brearley’s case. It is not yet clear whether the case will be brought to court martial.
But for Olszewski, Johnson and Knight, justice remains elusive.
“There’s a lot of evidence,” Thompson said of their cases. “There was enough evidence that for any reasonable prosecutor to look at that could have said, I think this should go forward to a court martial.”
In Olszewski’s case that evidence includes a recording of her former partner threatening to “knock her f—ing teeth out” and bodycam footage showing fresh bruises after a 911 call — which Air Force investigators reviewed in both their original and supplemental investigation into her case. The supplemental investigation also uncovered four additional victims of her ex-partner, including one woman who had reported his behavior to the Air Force a decade earlier.
Thompson says that if the Army had acted when they were first notified about her abuser, Olszewski’s life may have been different, “maybe Leah would never even have met him.”
Attorney Carol Thompson
CBS News
Last year Olszewski raised her concerns about the looming deadline for charges in her case in an email to Secretary Kendall, who responded that a “decision will be made before the statute of limitations expires,” according to emails obtained by CBS News. In her FTCA claim she alleges the Air Force “allowed the standard five-year statute of limitations to run out on the assaults.”
In Erica Johnson’s case, investigators found what they called “previously unknown audio recordings,” including one where her former partner appears to admit to abusive actions including “pushing” her. However, Johnson said her client had already provided that recording to prosecutors during the original investigation.
Liz Knight, whose alleged abuser is in the Army, reported being physically assaulted after giving birth abroad in 2018. The military police investigated and he was issued a local letter of reprimand – which was “erased from his record upon his departure” from that duty station, according to her FTCA claim.
According to Knight’s FTCA claim, after she spoke out to CBS News in 2021, Army Inspector General Lt. Gen. Donna Martin assured her the Army would re-investigate. Despite that assurance, an investigation into her case wasn’t reopened until almost a year later and only after Knight’s own lawyer made the request. By that point, the statute of limitations for a court martial had passed. Her alleged abuser is still on active duty.
An Army spokesperson told CBS News in a statement that military police and Army’s criminal investigative division, “have independently investigated Ms. Knight’s concerns, and Army commanders acted on those completed investigations within their proper authorities.”
“The Army has received Ms. Knight’s tort claim and is investigating its legal and factual sufficiency,” the Army’s statement went on to say. “The Army is committed to preventing harmful behaviors and promoting resilience, strong families, healthy coping skills, and relationship support.”
The military has yet to take any disciplinary action against the alleged abusers of Olszewski, Johnson or Knight. One retired honorably while the other two remain in the service. The women’s attorney calls that a failure by an institution where one’s honor is paramount.
“Individuals who commit domestic violence, who abuse the most intimate relationship — those are individuals that you cannot trust. And those are individuals that simply should not be in the service,” Thompson said.
The Air Force says they are now hiring more domestic abuse advocates to support victims and command teams, as well as new civilian staff to improve education and training efforts, according to a department spokesperson. They also have updated instructions that now require set times throughout a case to provide updates for victims throughout the process.
The spokesperson also pointed to the upcoming implementation, as ordered by congress, of the Office of Special Trial Counsel, which places prosecution decisions on major crimes including domestic violence into the hands of independent prosecutors.
The Pentagon declassified videos of Chinese jets performing what it said were “coercive and risky” maneuvers toward U.S. military jets over international waters.
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A debris field that may be a missing F-35 jet that apparently crashed in North Carolina over the weekend has been found, defense officials confirmed to CBS News. The pilot safely ejected, but the plane kept flying on autopilot.
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A Russian fighter jet harassed and flew “dangerously close” to a U.S. drone over Syria, the U.S. military said, deploying a flare that “severely” damaged the drone and forced it to return to its home base.
The MQ-9 drone was flying on a “defeat-ISIS mission” on Sunday, Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Forces Central, said in a news release Tuesday. These types of drones are unmanned aircraft that can be armed but are primarily used as “intelligence collection” assets, CBS News previously reported.
According to the news release, the Russian fighter jet approached the drone Sunday morning local time. A video shows the powder-blue Russian plane approaching the drone and flying past it. While directly overhead and “with only a few meters of separation between aircraft,” the Russian plane deployed flares, one of which struck the drone and damaged its propeller.
“Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base,” Grynkewich said. “The Russian fighter’s blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS. We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior.”
Similar instances were reported in the region earlier in July, with military officials criticizing Russian fighter jets for engaging in “unsafe and unprofessional behavior” toward drones flying over Syria on two consecutive days. In the first incident, three drones were engaged by three Russian fighter jets. The jets then dropped flares in front of the drones, forcing the drones to “conduct evasive maneuvers.” In the second encounter, several Russian jets “dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close” while the drones were conducting an operation against ISIS targets.
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.
President Biden is helped up after falling during the graduation ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy, just north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, on June 1, 2023.
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.
Chinese fighter jet harasses U.S. Air Force spy plane over South China Sea on May 26, 2023.
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.
The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron and the detachment commander overseeing administrative support have both been temporarily suspended from their leadership positions and have temporarily lost access to classified systems and information.
The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts made the suspensions last week.
Teixeira, the 21-year-old who allegedly posted hundreds of classified Pentagon documents online for months, worked as a systems administrator in the 102nd Intelligence Wing in the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
The two commanders are suspended pending further investigation by the Air Force inspector general. As more information becomes available, more members of Teixeira’s unit could face suspension or removal.
The Air Force reassigned the unit’s intelligence mission to other units earlier this month and ordered the inspector general to probe the unit’s policies and procedures related to the handling of national security information.
Investigators with the IG’s office arrived at Otis Air National Guard Base Tuesday.
Only 10 women in U.S. military history have served as four-star generals or four-star admirals, the military’s highest ranks. Four of them took part in an exclusive interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell to discuss their experiences.
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An inspector general review ordered by the Secretary of the Air Force following a CBS News investigation by Norah O’Donnell has found the Air Force must do more to establish trust with domestic violence victims in the early stages of reporting and investigations.
As a result of the review, Kendall has directed a new 90-day review to assess how victims are supported in the Air Force. According to an Air Force spokesperson, the effort includes partnering with outside organizations and former military spouses who experienced domestic violence to ensure the Air Force is offering the appropriate services for potential victims.
Over the past year, the Air Force has also launched multiple initiatives to address domestic violence, including establishing an electronic system that allows Domestic Abuse Violence Advocates to maintain records longer to better identify repeat domestic violence offenders. The Office of Special Investigations has also hired 86 more special agents to investigate violence.
“Domestic violence has no place in our Air and Space Forces — it breaks the bonds of our service family, destroys individuals, families, and our communities, and is illegal,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a statement to CBS News on Friday.
“While we have taken actions to improve victim response and support programs, there is more work to be done in earning and sustaining the trust of survivors,” Kendall said.
CBS News’ two-year investigation into domestic violence in the military found that roughly 100,000 incidents of domestic abuse have been reported to the military since 2015. Nearly 40 domestic violence survivors told CBS News that the military failed to protect them.
Among those who spoke to CBS News was now-retired Master Sergeant Erica Johnson, who told Air Force leaders in 2019 that she was being physically and sexually assaulted. The Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations opened an investigation, but it “didn’t go anywhere,” Johnson said.
Kendall ordered the review of cases of domestic violence in the Air Force within days after CBS News’ investigation aired on the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell in September 2021.
Norah O’Donnell, Kristin Steve, Adam Verdugo and David Martin contributed to this report.
CBS News investigation into domestic abuse in the military:
A 20-year-old North Carolina man is heading straight to jail Friday after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with pepper spray during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Aiden Henry Bilyard of North Carolina pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., Friday, admitting to assaulting the officers, according to the plea agreement. He also used a bat to shatter a window during the assault.
Federal Judge Reggie Walton dismissed pleas from Bilyard’s attorneys to allow him to return home ahead of his sentencing in February. Instead, he immediately sent Bilyard to jail, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Bilyard was 18 at the time of the attack.
“Eighteen is old enough to know right from wrong,” Walton said Friday, according to the newspaper.
“Like my mother used to tell me, ‘You make your bed, you sleep in it’,” the judge added.
Bilyard was recruited by the Air Force, and was attending basic training when he was interviewed by federal authorities in August 2021. He separated from the Air Force by the time he was indicted last November, according to court documents.
Court documents show Bilyard carried a canister of “home defense pepper gel” the afternoon of Jan. 6, and pointing the nozzle toward officers who were attempting to hold back the mob. He then discharged the chemical towards the group of officers, court documents read. Then, Bilyard and others took on the police line, forcing officers to retreat.
As the afternoon went on, Bilyard accepted a bat and used it to shatter a portion of a window on the Capitol building, crawling through that window into the building.
The judge called Billyard’s actions, “chilling and beyond the pale,” according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, and possible fines. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 23.
A pilot escaped without serious injury after an F-35 fighter jet crashed at an Air Force base in Utah Wednesday evening. The crash also sparked a small brush fire.
The crash occurred at about 6:15 p.m. local time at Hill Air Force Base, Col. Craig Andrle, commander of the 388th Fighter Wing, said in a Wednesday night news briefing.
It took place on the north end of a runway, Andrle disclosed, as the pilot was returning from a routine training mission. The pilot safely ejected the jet and was taken to a hospital for observation.
“Tonight, first and foremost, we’re thankful that he’s OK, he got out of the aircraft,” Andrle said.
No one on the ground was hurt, Andrle said. The exact cause of the crash is unknown.
According to the Utah state fire officials, the crash sparked an 8- to 10-acre brush fire on Defense Department land. Multiple fire agencies responded and were able to extinguish the blaze, state fire officials tweeted. Andrle said it took about an hour for crews to knock down the fire.
New Start: #TheStripFire is 8-10 acres. Cause was a downed Military Aircraft. No injuries reported. Fire was on DOD land. Fire suppression by Weber Co. resources and Forestry, Fire and State Lands (FFSL) Fire has been suppressed but continues with Haz-Mat and other needs. #ffslkwpic.twitter.com/3ONcMbyUbV
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had tweeted that his office was “in communication” with the Air Force base and was “praying for the safety of the pilot and first responders and will continue to monitor the situation.”
Hill Air Force Base is located about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.
A fire sparked by a fighter jet crash at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Oct. 19, 2022.
