The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that 1st Lt. Joseph Helton, 24, of Monroe Ga., died Sept. 8 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 6th...

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel on Wednesday added $2.5 billion to its version of the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill to buy 10 C-17 transports that the Obama Administration did not request. Pentagon leaders want to stop C-17 production...

The intense wrangling going on among the Pentagon, industry, and Congress over the fate of the F136 engine is still not resolved after Wednesday’s markup of the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill by the Senate Appropriation Committee’s defense panel. The...

Senior Air Force Materiel Command officials last week reinforced the importance of maintaining properly the service’s nuclear weapons at the command’s semi-annual leaders’ conference held Sept. 1-2 at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. “Sustaining our nuclear assets remains our No. 1 priority,”...

The last three F-15s of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., were flown Tuesday to their final destination in Tucson, Ariz., as part of the wing’s transition from an F-15 operational combat unit to a training wing for...

That’s essentially the message Wednesday from Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, to the Defense Department. In his opening statement for the panel’s markup of the Fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill, Inouye reminded the...

Airmen with the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Tuesday successfully launched a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket into space that was carrying a classified US government communications satellite known as “PAN.” “This launch helps to...

Both the Army and Air Force commanders in charge of airmen serving in Afghanistan in joint expeditionary taskings—roles not traditionally carried out by airmen—have offered high accolades for the work of these joint warriors. “Airmen help fill a critical function...

Airmen with the 321st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron at New al Muthana AB, Iraq, are seeing progress in the abilities of the Iraqi Air Force members whom they are training to maintain their nascent air arm’s C-130 transports. “I see...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Sept. 5-7, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 87 89 176 10,988 CAS/Armed Recon 70 246 316 24,159 Airlift 443 443 33,011 Air refueling 157 157 11,840 Total 1,092 79,998 OIF=Operation Iraqi...