Two Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. One was flown by a pilot — the other wasn’t. By Tara Copp, AP
23 months ago An F-22 Raptor taking part in a fighter exercise Monday in Savannah, Georgia, was involved in a mishap around 11:30 a.m. local time. An F-16 assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, crashed around 11:50 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The F-35 upgrades known as Technology Refresh 3 are now a year overdue and have halted deliveries of the newest fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. The Air Force Reserve's 301st Fighter Wing will receive the component's first two F-35A Lightning II fighters this summer. The Air Force hopes its Venom experiments will allow it to more quickly develop self-flying drone wingmen known as CCAs. The Air Force cut its planned F-35 and F-15EX purchases in 2025 by six apiece due to budgetary constraints, as well as delays to F-35 upgrades. The U.S. Air Force would receive enough money to buy 51 F-35As in fiscal 2024 under the compromise defense spending bill lawmakers released. The Pentagon stopped accepting deliveries of the newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in summer 2023 as software problems snarled the jets' latest upgrades. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a resolution to block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after Ankara approved Sweden's NATO accession. Load More
