United States Air Force

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces and part of the Department of Defense. It traces its origins to 1 August 1907, when aviation work began inside the Army Signal Corps, and it became an independent service in 1947 through the National Security Act, which moved personnel over from the Army Air Forces. It is the second youngest branch of the American armed forces. Its stated core missions are air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. The service is run through the Department of the Air Force, headed by a civilian secretary, while the chief of staff of the Air Force is its senior uniformed officer and sits on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Wikipedia describes it as the largest air force in the world, with roughly 5,500 aircraft, hundreds of thousands of airmen and civilian staff, and responsibility for a share of the American nuclear arsenal including Minuteman III missiles. The article places it alongside the United States Space Force as the only two American services where non-commissioned officer status begins at pay grade E-5.