Daily Report

April 24, 2008

Two Dead in Trainer Crash

An Air Force T-38C Talon training aircraft crashed Wednesday at about 12:30 p.m. on Columbus AFB, Miss., killing two pilots aboard, according to a USAF release. Names of the pilots were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. According...

Third Time Charm?

The Air Force has indeed issued Amendment 6 to its CSAR-X combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program, There is no hint of an award date, but industry responses are due May 27, not May 22 as we reported last...

Next-Gen GPS Award Delayed

The Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles issued an April 21 statement that the contract award for the Global Positioning System Block III satellites is in its final stages, but officials do not expect to announce the award...

Gates Not Down on USAF

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 23 publicly clarified his remarks at the Air War College, denying the harsh criticism of the Air Force widely reported by the media. At a Pentagon press conference Wednesday, Gates said that a close...

Confidence … For Now

According to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, the confidence Defense Secretary Robert Gates has in Air Force leadership is “unchanged,” despite the service’s recent problems, including the Pentagon Inspector General’s revelations of senior leader influence in contracting for a Thunderbirds video...

What’s Not In

A task force looking for ways to get more ISR assets into the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan will be looking at “the inventory of what we have and can we get it over there,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said...

Ending the Debate

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, head of the Central Intelligence Agency since May 2006, has decided to retire from the Air Force but wants to remain as head of CIA. When Hayden, a long-time intelligence official, received the nomination to...

A Different Ball Game

Some 300 airmen from the 23 Wing at Moody AFB, Ga., deployed to Nellis AFB, Nev., with their newly digitized C model A-10s and found the experience invaluable. The upgraded Warthogs require “different tools, testers, spare parts, crypto, and mission...

Petraeus to CENTCOM?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 23 announced that Army Gen. David Petraeus, current head of operations in Iraq, will be the nominee to lead US Central Command. The previous CENTCOM boss, Adm. William Fallon, elected to retire just a...

First of its Kind?

Last week the Air Force activated the 911th Air Refueling Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., where the new unit’s active duty airmen will share operation and maintenance of KC-135 aircraft “owned” by Air Force Reserve Command’s 916th Air Refueling...

Tuskegee Airman Kirksey Dies

A pilot of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen, Lee Roy Kirksey of Charlotte, N.C., died April 4, according to an April 16 report in the Charlotte Observer. He was 86.

DOJ Supports Air Guardsman

The Department of Justice is working to correct alleged violations of the 1994 uniformed services employment and reemployment legislation by the New York State Department of Corrections against New York Air National Guardsman Patrick Anson, reported the North Country Gazette...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaApril 21, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 26 12 38 3,053 CAS/Armed Recon 67 47 114 9,240 Airlift 148 148 13,690 Air refueling 47 47 4,245 Total 347 30,228...

Three Themes

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates meant to convey three themes in speeches April 21 at the Air War College in Alabama and the US Military Academy in New York, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told the Daily Report. First, Gates wants...