It’s become clear that lawmakers are becoming increasingly irate that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has issued a budget proposal with striking force structure changes across the board, but particularly for the Air Force, without providing evidence of studied analysis and...

Lawmakers at the May 20 House Armed Services Air and Land Forces panel hearing wanted to know if there is a plan to field sufficient Air National Guard air sovereignty alert (ASA) aircraft to head off the impending shortfall should...

In October, 2006, the Air Force leadership announced the service’s top five procurement priorities. They were (1) KC-X tanker; (2) CSAR-X combat search and rescue helicopter; (3) space-based early warning and communications satellites; (4) F-35 fighter; and (5) the next-generation...

The four additional F-22s that the Air Force intends to procure in Fiscal 2010 to complete its production buy at 187 will be fully combat-capable aircraft that will “flush out” operational Raptor units, Vince Lewis, chief of capabilities planning and...

Using an Air Force chart as a reference point, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) pointed out to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz that with 183 F-22s, just 126 of them would be combat coded...

The first two of eight AC-130H Spectre gunships destined for the new Air Force Special Operations Command force at Cannon AFB, N.M., arrived last week. The remaining aircraft are slated to arrive later this summer, according to the Cannon photo...

The Air National Guard has decided to consolidate its officer training program conducted over the past 40 years at McGhee-Tyson ANGB, Tenn., with the active duty and Air Force Reserve officer training program at Maxwell AFB, Ala., reports the The...

As of May 22, three USAF C-17s had delivered supplies to aid some 1.7 million refugees from Pakistan’s embattled Swat Valley. The aircraft, dispatched from Charleston AFB, S.C., and Dover AFB, Del., have delivered over a 24-hour period supplies that...

MSgt. Darren Bradley, a flight engineer, has amassed 5,000 flying hours in the HH-60G Pave Hawk combat search and rescue helicopter. Assigned to the 56th Rescue Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, Bradley has flown a total of 5,270 hours in...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaMay 19-22, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 108 76 184 5,725 CAS/Armed Recon 101 290 391 13,818 Airlift 575 575 19,391 Air refueling 187 187 6,280 Total 1,337 45,214...