Daily Report

May 19, 2008

Bathtub Blues, Sooner

Senior Air Force officials told Congress earlier this year of a looming fighter shortage of more than 800 aircraft starting in 2017 and running through 2024. But Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley, Air National Guard director, told lawmakers May 14 that...

B-2 Crash Cause

Water intrusion in air-data sensors is being pegged as the cause of the B-2 bomber crash during takeoff Feb. 23 from Andersen AFB, Guam, according to a top Air Force official. The skin-flush sensors, which collect information about air pressure...

Air Force Delivers Aid To China

Two Air Force C-17s landed May 18 at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, China, carrying relief supplies to aid victims of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck China’s central Sichuan Province May 12, according to US Pacific Command. The two...

Pulse Detonation Engine Flies

The Air Force Research Lab made history Jan. 31 at Mohave, Calif., by flying a manned aircraft powered by a pulsed detonation engine for the first time ever, according to a May 16 announcement of the milestone flight by AFRL....

New Tanker Advances in Mark-ups

Despite the fluid situation currently with the Air Force’s KC-X tanker program, both Congressional oversight committees charged with defense authorizations have supported DOD’s Fiscal 2009 spending request for the new aerial refueler thus far. Most recently, the House Armed Services...

No, Yet Again, to Tricare Fee Hikes

The House Armed Services Committee has rebuffed the Bush Administration’s latest attempt to raise Tricare fees for military retirees, as did its Senate counterpart, when marking up the Fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill. According to the House panel’s mark-up summary,...

Reaper Shows Prowess

An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle struck enemy combatants with a 500-pound laser-guided bomb and Hellfire missiles May 15 in the vicinity of Sangin, Afghanistan, Air Forces Central announced May 16. In Nangalam, an F-15E hit an enemy combatant fighting...

Iraqi Air Force Milestone

The Iraqi air force has conducted its first-ever aeromedical evacuation mission—albeit still under US tutelage. The mission occurred May 14 as an Iraqi UH-1 Huey II helicopter ferried an Iraqi man who was recovering from severe injuries following an IED...

Lightening the Battlefield Airman’s Load

About 30 airmen from tactical air control parties assigned to Det. 1, 3rd Air Support Operations Squadron at Ft. Richardson, Alaska, tested out seven pieces of experimental equipment at May’s Northern Edge 2008 joint-service training exercise at the Pacific Alaskan...

Pulling Out the Cannons at Cannon

Security forces at Cannon AFB, N.M., participated with local law enforcement officials in a three-day training course in early May taught by the National Tactical Officers Association on how to deploy rapidly and respond to a shooter on the base....

Work Advances on Future Missile

Boeing has won a $5.2 million contract from the Air Force Research Lab to mature compact, lightweight fuse technology envisioned for the future joint dual-role air dominance missile. According to a May 16 release, the company said it will begin...

Twenty-five Years Later

The housing boom has arrived at Schriever AFB, Colo., as officials gathered May 16 to break ground for the base’s first housing development. It was just 25 years earlier that the Air Force first began construction at then-Falcon Air Force...

The Best in Weather

The Air Force selected SrA. Leon Keochangthanivong at Scott AFB, Ill., as the 2007 Air Force Weather Airman of the year. He serves with the 15th Operational Weather Squadron, routinely preparing 24-hour forecasts for five active duty locations including the...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaMay 15-16, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 42 23 65 3,972 CAS/Armed Recon 86 104 190 11,961 Airlift 235 235 17,359 Air refueling 114 114 5,566 Total 604 38,858...