Daily Report

May 21, 2008

Step Two

The governors of the 18 states in contention to host the permanent location for USAF's new Cyber Command have now received a second letter from William Anderson, the service's point man on the effort, asking for more details on why their states should get the new unit. In his recent letter, Anderson, the assistant secretary for installations, environment, and logistics, invites the governors to review the initial basing criteria provided and make a case for X as an "ideal host location" for either the new command's headquarters or supporting organizations or both. (The Air Force laid out its notional organizational structure in March.) Anderson wants the governors' inputs by July 1. For Step 3 in the process, which will begin sometime later this summer, the service will send teams to visit each potential location, where team members will meet with local officials and verify the states' claims. After analyzing the data, writes Anderson, the service will narrow the field "to a short list that consists of a preferred location and several alternative locations" that it expects to announce publicly in mid-November. As the dust settles, the Air Force then must begin environmental assessments, working toward a final permanent choice that it hopes to reveal by September 2009.

Just Yesterday

We thought the battle for the F-22 was over and that all that remained was the question of whether the Air Force can get the 381 aircraft it needs rather than the 183 the Pentagon has allocated, but recent remarks...

Reorganizing Test and Development?

According to a May 16 report out of Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee, the Air Force is considering forming the Air Force Developmental Test and Evaluation Center to combine AEDC, redesignated as the 704th Test Wing, and the 46th...

More Than Ready for Work

Maintainers at Tyndall AFB, Fla., have exceeded the mission capable rate for the F-22 Raptor and met the rate for the F-15 Eagles in their charge. Airmen of the 325th Maintenance Group produced a “remarkable feat,” said Robert Taylor, maintenance...

Viper Strikes

Air Forces Central reports that USAF F-16s dropped 500-pound bombs in strikes on May 19 against enemy combatants in Al Amarah, Iraq. According to a May 20 AFCENT release, the Viper strikes were among some 67 close air support sorties...

Post 9/11 GI Bill Moves

A new GI Bill for veterans who have served since the terrorist attacks in the US on Sept. 11, 2001, sponsored by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), awaits Senate action after the House on May 15 passed related legislation. The bipartisan...

64 Years Later, a DFC

Records kept by the Air Force Historical Research Agency helped lead the Air Force to award a Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously to 1st Lt. Louis Valls earlier this year for his actions piloting a B-26 bomber during World War II,...

Receiving Presidential Accolades

Three airmen were among the seven military members honored May 16 for their volunteer work during a USA Freedom Corps President’s Volunteer Service Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. Maj. Laird Abbott, assigned to the Air Staff, has served as a...

Kadena Has Best Comptroller

The Defense Department has named Lt. Col. Stephen Kennedy, head of the 18th Comptroller Squadron at Kadena AB, Japan, on the island of Okinawa, as one of the four top military comptrollers of the year. Pacific Air Forces already had...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaMay 18, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 25 13 38 4,044 CAS/Armed Recon 66 50 116 12,175 Airlift 138 138 17,647 Air refueling 58 58 5,670 Total 350 39,536...