President Bush today asked for a $439.3 billion defense budget for fiscal 2007, which begins this Oct. 1. He sent the wartime Pentagon plan to Congress saying that it is needed to fund the US military to fight irregular forces...

The new Pentagon plan envisions spending in 2007 of $84.2 billion for procurement of weapons and other systems, with modest growth in the following four years. The follow-up amounts are $99.7 billion (2008); $109 billion (2009), $111.7 billion (2010); and...

In terms of percentage increase, the Army was the winner, with its budget showing a one-year, 12.7 percent rise. (This does not include war-related supplemental funds.) Then came the Air Force (6.3%), Navy/Marine Corps (4.9%); and DOD agencies (4.6%). In...

The Pentagon’s QDR report (here), released Feb. 3, dramatically elevates long-range strike aircraft over fighters. The section “Joint Air Capabilities” says US airpower “must be reoriented” to emphasize “systems that have far greater range and persistence; larger and more flexible...

As we reported, the QDR calls for a new land-based, long-range strike system by 2018. The goals are ambitious. The report says that, by 2025, the Air Force will increase LRS capabilities by 50 percent and the “penetrating component” of...

For some 60 years, the Air Force—because it possessed heavy bombers—has dominated conventional long-range strike, but that could change. The QDR report made it abundantly clear that the Pentagon would like to see the Navy enter the LRS arena. It...

With its new QDR, the Pentagon keeps in place the 2001 defense strategy of “assure, dissuade, deter, and defeat.” What has changed, officials say, is the way DOD plans to “operationalize” the strategy. According to Ryan Henry, the Pentagon’s QDR...

The QDR report announces, ex nihilo, that the Pentagon has decided to cut the Air Force’s Minuteman III ICBM force by 10 percent. Starting in 2007, it will take the fleet of long-range strategic nuclear weapons down from 500 to...

Gen. Ronald Keys, chief of Air Combat Command, had a few choice words for terrorists during his visit to AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium last week in Orlando. Noting that USAF aircraft continue to monitor terrorist communications, watch suspected terrorist headquarters,...

Asked what he needs in order to deliver future long-range strike, General Keys’ pithy reply—which generated much laughter from the AFA audience—was “money.” The more expansive answer was this: He wants something that is “responsive, persistent, and precise.” To be...

Asked if the Pentagon’s newly approved figure of 183 F-22s (down from 381 sought until recently) was derived from sound strategic analysis or was simply the result of budget pressure, Gen. Ronald Keys said that 381 “is still my number.”...

Andersen Air Force Base on the US island territory of Guam is taking on new significance in the Pacific, but most Air Force assets operating there will be on rotational tours and not on permanent assignment, reports Gen. Paul V....

PACAF’s General Hester, speaking at last week’s AFA symposium, emphasized the importance of US relationship with the Asian city-state of Singapore. Singapore has recently signaled interest in buying Global Hawk unmanned aircraft—a real possibility, in Hester’s opinion. Singapore has even...

The Defense Department has identified remains found in a search conducted in 2000 and 2005 of a crash site in Vietnam as those of Col. Eugene D. Hamilton of Opelika, Ala. Hamilton was flying an F-105D on an armed reconnaissance...

Dick Banholzer, Boeing’s director of Global Strike Business Development, said the company is engaged in a number of new LRS-related programs. Several of these involve the B-1B fleet, he said. The company has also received a contract from the Air...

Banholzer also revealed at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando last week that Boeing is developing what he called “the Laser JDAM.” The new weapon would be equipped with a dual-mode laser and GPS signal seeker, giving the JDAM greater...

Officials at the Pentagon on Feb. 3 unveiled an exhibit designed to recognized those military personnel who have received the Medal of Honor. The exhibit features portraits of 101 MOH recipients mounted on all five floors of the “A” ring...

According to testimony at a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing last week, there is growing concern that young veterans are disproportionately left out of a boom employment environment. And, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) told the Administration, “We are going to...

The Dutch Are In: After much discussion and dithering, the Dutch parliament has agreed that the Netherlands will send up to 1,700 troops to Afghanistan under the NATO banner. According to the Washington Post, the parliament handily defeated a motion...

US Air Force airlifters have been operating around the clock to deliver blankets, firewood, medical supplies, and food to areas of Afghanistan cut off by extreme cold and deep snow. Winter makes such mission more urgent; however, since such humanitarian...

February 2, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 12 6 – 18 CAS/Armed Recon 51 20 – 71 Airlift – – 180 180 Air refueling – – 30 30 Total 63 26 210 299 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...