Boeing Rolls the C-17 Dice

With the future of the C-17 program still a mystery—Pentagon officials continue, month after month, to sit on the long-awaited Mobility Capabilities Study—Boeing has made a move. Company officials Ron Marcotte and Dave Bowman told reporters Boeing is investing its...

Fratricidal UAVs?

USAF Lt. Gen. Walter E. Buchanan III, head of Central Command’s air forces, loves UAVs, but they are at the heart of his nightmare scenario. Every service is flying UAVs in uncoordinated fashion over Iraq and Afghanistan, he told defense...

Seeking a Solution

Buchanan said he is working with other services to find a solution, one that will deconflict aircraft by altitude, space, and time, and allow large aircraft to identify smaller craft at radar range. There are flight rules in this kind...

Has Club QDR Had a Change of Heart?

A top Pentagon official now says that the Quadrennial Defense Review probably won’t push the armed services too far away from new weapons systems they have planned. This, of course, is a very different tune from the one the Pentagon...

A Bomb on Your Head

A coalition air strike in Iraq likely has killed Abu Dua, a key Al Qaeda member who helped smuggle foreign fighters into the country, said US Central Command leaders. Intelligence reports indicate he was hiding in a terrorist safe house...

The Pain of Future Total Force

The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command are experiencing some growing pains as a result of Future Total Force initiatives, said Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, AFRC chief. However, he added, the end result will be worth it....

Yes, We Said 80 Tons of Tuna

In Pakistan, Air Mobility Command’s 818th Contingency Response Group has been hard at work offloading humanitarian aid for victims of the earthquake that shook the region earlier this month. On Oct. 21, however, the unit faced a different kind of...

Homestead Stands Up Relief Effort

Shortly after Hurricane Wilma tore through south Florida last Monday, the 482nd Fighter Wing opened Homestead ARB, Fla. for relief efforts. The Florida Air National Guard, working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials, used the airfield as...

Fisher the Greek

What’s a day without controversy at the Air Force Academy? Today’s installment: Academy Football Coach Fisher DeBerry was reprimanded this week by the school’s leadership for inane remarks about black athletes. DeBerry had told the Colorado Springs Gazette that he...

Aeromedical Staging Facility

Somewhere in Iraq, members of the 386th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility helped move 16 injured troops to Germany for definitive care, the latest in a successful operation that helps servicemembers get the life-saving aid. The contingency facility takes care of...

Navy Fleet to Shrink

The Navy’s top officer has announced that the fleet this year will shrink by a net of at least 10 warships, bringing the total below 280. The fleet hasn’t been that small since the 1930s, when the US was a...

NATO Force in Pakistan

The newly arrived Deployable Joint Task Force Headquarters for NATO’s Joint Command Lisbon on Thursday was coordinating with Pakistani officials the forces’ deployment options. The NATO forces will total more than 1,000 troops and engineers, according to an alliance statement...

US Reaches Deal on Okinawa Marines

The US and Japan reached agreement on consolidating Marine Corps airborne operations on the island of Okinawa. The deal calls for moving operations at Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma to another base on the island. The decision to move...

DOD Unveils NSPS

The Department of Defense and the US Office of Personnel Management unveiled the final regulations for the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS), putting them into the Federal Register. At a Pentagon news conference on Oct. 26, Acting Undersecretary of...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

October 26, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 10 5 – 15 CAS/Armed Recon 52 22 – 74 Airlift – – 170 170 Air refueling – – 28 28 Total 62 27 198 287 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...