On June 15, 2012, more than 50 years after downed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers returned from Soviet captivity, the Air Force will posthumously award him a Silver Star medal for his heroism. Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz will...

Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger—the Air Force’s first-ever female four-star general—assumed command of Air Force Materiel Command during a June 5 ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Wolfenbarger replaced Gen. Donald Hoffman, who has led AFMC since November 2008. She received her fourth...

The Air Force on June 5 awarded Lockheed Martin a $19.2 million contract to procure the first batch of automatic backup oxygen systems for the F-22 fleet. The service is installing A-BOS on its F-22s as an added safety measure...

In a jointly penned opinion piece in the Washington Times, former Air Force Secretaries F. Whitten Peters and Michael Wynne press a bipartisan case for investment in the Air Force’s force structure. They note that the failure to invest now...

CMSgt. Eric Jaren retired as Air Force Materiel Command’s command chief, ending a 30-year career. Then-AFMC Commander Gen. Donald Hoffman (see above) presided over Jaren’s June 1 retirement ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. A life-long military brat, Jaren followed in...

The United States and India agreed to resume the search in northeastern India for the remains of US military personnel lost in aircraft crashes during World War II, announced the Defense Department on June 5. DOD estimates that there are...

GEO-1, the Air Force’s first Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous satellite, is exceeding performance expectations and is on schedule to achieve operational certification later this year, announced manufacturer Lockheed Martin on June 5. Sensors on the sophisticated early warning satellite,...