It's likely to be a banner year for aircraft, as the service takes big steps forward for several of its newest planes:
The Air Force is aiming for Aug. 1 as the date for initial operating capability for the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter.
Developing the plane has long caused a headache for the Air Force, which saw the aircraft wind up more than $150 billion over budget and between three and seven years behind schedule, depending how you count.
But problems continue as the Air Force has had to stop pilots who weigh under 135 pounds from flying the plane due to potentially fatal problems with the ejection seat. Contractor Martin Baker is working on a fix, but officials say it's unlikely to be deployed before IOC.
The F-35 will also face another challenge as it goes up against the popular A-10 Thunderbolt II in a test to determine which plane is better at close-air support.
The tests won't occur until 2018, but it's a move congressional leaders have been pushing for.
"The F-35 is going to replace the A-10. We need to identify whether we're going to have a decrease in the unique capabilities in that mission set," Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., a former A-10 pilot and retired colonel, said Oct. 21.
The Air Force wants to retire the Warthog, saying it could save $3.5 billion over five years. But lawmakers specifically put language in the 2016 defense funding bill that would prevent the service from mothballing the plane.
Meanwhile, F-22 Raptors are increasingly taking part in missions in the Middle East against the Islamic State group. In 2015, however, operators reported problems with the fifth-generation aircraft being able to share data and information with older planes. The Air Force said it's looking at ways to improve communication between the F-22 and fighters like the F-16 and F-15.
But some leaders are worried that the service doesn't have enough of the aircraft, which saw its purchase orders fall victim to budget cuts.
"Hindsight's always 20/20," Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, said Nov. 10. "I think in retrospect we stopped the buy too soon. We could use more F-22s certainly in the world we face today."
As for larger aircraft, the Air Force is awaiting the decision in a bid protest for the Long Range Strike-Bomber. On Oct. 27, the Pentagon awarded the contract to Northrop Grumman, maker of the B-2 stealth bomber.
But the losing competitors — a joint effort by Lockheed Martin and Boeing — immediately filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog office. GAO has 100 days to issue a ruling — which means a decision is likely in late January.
Rejecting the protest would mean Northrop can start work on the plane; but if the complaint is upheld, it could send the Air Force back to the drawing board for a new bomber contract competition.
The Air Force's other big plane set to take off soon: the Boeing-built KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tanker.
The service said it expects the first tanker-to-receiver contact to occur sometime in the first quarter of 2016, and for the tankers to officially begin flying missions in 2017.
Also in 2016, the Air Force is expected to announce the basing decision for the Air Force Reserve-led KC-46 main operating base.
