Америкалық Әскери-Әуе және Ғарыш күштері қауымдастығы

American professional military and aerospace education association

The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is "to educate the public about air and space power, to advocate for the world's most capable, most lethal, and most effective Air and Space Forces, and to support Airmen, Guardians, and their families.") and the Daily Report. It also runs the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and conducts social networking, public outreach, and national conferences and symposia. It sponsors professional development seminars and has an awards program. AFA has a scholarship program for Air Force active duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve members and their dependents. It also provides grants to promote science and math education at the elementary and secondary school level. Founded in 1946 as the Air Force Association, the organization renamed itself in April 2022. It continued to use the abbreviation AFA.

Even before the end of World War II, General of the Army Henry H. Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces, was beginning to consider establishing an organization for the three million airmen under his command who would become veterans after the war ended. This organization was not only intended to serve as a veterans' organization, but also be an advocacy group for airpower. In August 1945, Arnold asked Edward Peck Curtis to build the Air Force Association. Then an executive at Eastman Kodak, Curtis retired from the Army Air Forces in 1944 as a major general and was a World War I flying ace. The first meeting occurred on 12 October 1945 in New York City. Aside from Curtis, the twelve founders were John S. Allard, Everett Richard Cook, who retired from the Army Air Forces in 1945 as a brigadier general and was a World War I flying ace, Jimmy Doolittle, who was an Army Air Forces lieutenant general and Medal of Honor recipient for flying the Doolittle Raid, W. Dearing Howe, Rufus Rand, Sol Rosenblatt, Julian Rosenthal, James Stewart, an actor and Army Air Forces colonel, Lowell P. Weicker, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, an Army Air Forces colonel, and John Hay Whitney, an Army Air Forces intelligence officer. In 1994, Air Force Magazine published a special report on the National Air and Space Museum's plans to display the Enola Gay B 29 Superfortress bomber, which dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. AFA called the museum's plans politically rigged and lacking balance and historical context. The outcry from Congress, the news media, and public forced the museum to modify its display plans. Following the Space Force's establishment, the Air Force Association called for the Department of the Air Force to rename itself the Department of the Air and Space Forces, integrate the National Reconnaissance Office into the U. S. Space Force, and develop crewed and uncrewed combat spaceplanes for the new service.

AFA is divided into three geographic areas, comprising 14 regions, each led by a region president. Predominantly a volunteer organization, the association has more than 200 chapters in 49 states (Maine is the only state without a chapter) and other countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Okinawa, and the Republic of Korea. As of 30 June 2010, AFA had a membership of 117,480 of whom 37% (43,954) are life members (permanent membership), organized into local chapters. There has been a 23 year trend of declining regular membership, but increasing life membership. AFA membership in 2010 included 15% on active duty military and 70% retired or former military.

As part of its education mandate the association publishes Air Force Magazine and the online electronic news brief Daily Report. Air Force Magazine began in September 1918 as the D. M. A. Weekly News Letter, originally published by the Information Branch of the Division of Military Aeronautics, and changed names several times, becoming Air Force Magazine in January 1943 and Air & Space Forces in September 2022. The Air Force Association assumed responsibility for its publication and content beginning in October 1946. AFA hosts professional development conferences which feature speakers, workshops, trade shows and presentations by Air Force and national defense leaders. The organization has a public policy and research arm, the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies run by director Dr. Rebecca Grant. AFA runs CyberPatriot, a national youth cyber education program that promotes student interest in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career fields. The "Visions of Exploration" program has its members distribute educational materials to schools and concerned citizens. This is done in part through a joint multi disciplinary science, math and social studies program with USA Today. The Arnold Air Society is a university level arm of the organization. As part of its support programs AFA provides more than $1.5 million in scholarships, grants, and awards. AFA's educational programs and scholarships are intended to encourage Air Force members to continue their education, provide funds to Air Force spouses working towards a degree, and administer grants that develop programs promoting math and science skills among young people. AFA was a key organization in building the United States Air Force Memorial and continues to be involved in its day to day operations.