Daily Report

April 29, 2008

Signal Carrier

The Air Force has received the last of eight modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR satellites from Lockheed Martin and is preparing to launch this satellite into orbit on June 30. Although this satellite, which is designated GPS IIR(M)-20, is...

Super Delivery

Lockheed Martin announced April 28 that it has delivered the 100th C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft to the US armed forces. The aircraft was handed over to the 41st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Ark., April 27. “It’s a...

Powerful Presence

An Air Force B-1B bomber dropped 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions onto enemy fighting positions in both Nangalam and Asadabad, Afghanistan, on April 27, and an A-10 Thunderbolt fired cannon rounds onto enemy combatants in Jalalabad, Air Force officials directing...

Spit and Polished

Approximately 30 airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany, volunteered approximately 260 total man-hours April 22-24 to help restore the C-54 and C-47 aircraft on display at the Berlin Airlift Memorial site on the former Rhein Main AB near Frankfurt International Airport....

Goodbye Provisional

The 354th Force Support Squadron will become official today (April 29) during a ceremony at Eielson AFB, Alaska. The Air Force selected Eielson in January 2007 as one of six bases at which to test the force-shaping initiative of merging...

Carrying an Old Friend

When A-10 pilots of Air Force Reserve Command’s 303rd Fighter Squadron at Whiteman AFB, Mo., deploy to Afghanistan later this spring, the Litening targeting pods that their Warthogs carry will once again have the ability to pass live imagery directly...

Visually Speaking

We’ve already shown Boeing’s concept in DARPA’s Vulture high-altitude, extremely long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle program. Now its two competitors, Aurora Flight Sciences and Lockheed Martin, have released artist renderings of their own designs. Aurora calls its concept Odysseus. Lockheed Martin’s aircraft is equally intriguing. All three companies won Phase 1 contracts earlier this month to commence with the design and development of their respective aircraft. DARPA wants an unmanned system that is “able to fly on station and perform its mission for five years without interruption.”

A Merging of Minds

Lockheed Martin has joined the Northrop Grumman-led team that is competing against Raytheon to supply the Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System ground control segment, known as OCX. Lockheed Martin is a “tremendous addition,” said Steve Bergjans, Northrop Grumman’s GPS...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaApril 25, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 24 11 35 3,192 CAS/Armed Recon 70 43 113 9,673 Airlift 145 145 14,275 Air refueling 47 47 4,444 Total 340 31,584...