Daily Report

The Pentagon announced today that TSgt. Anthony C. Campbell Jr., 35, of Florence, Ky., died Dec. 15 from wounds he received from an improvised explosive device that detonated in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Campbell had deployed from Air Force Reserve Command’s...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has placed a hold on the nomination of Erin Conaton to be Air Force undersecretary over concerns with the KC-X tanker competition, the Senator’s communications director, Stephen Boyd, confirmed Tuesday. Boyd declined to elaborate on Sessions’...

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Monday major revisions are unlikely in the final version of the KC-X tanker solicitation despite Northrop Grumman’s threat to exit the contest since it contends that the current terms favor rival Boeing. “The requirements...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday articulated on the Senate floor his concerns over the draft language in the Air Force’s KC-X tanker solicitation and urged the Pentagon leadership to correct a “deeply flawed” acquisition strategy while there is still...

House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) on Monday announced the appointment of former Air Force chief historian Dr. Richard Kohn and retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales to fill two of the eight positions on the independent...

The Air Force on Monday entered phase II of its effort to rebalance the noncommissioned officer force through retraining to ensure that all its career fields are properly manned. This phase entails the retraining of more than 300 non-volunteers. It...

The Air Force says it has successfully completed verification testing of the interim operations ground system that will be used to support the launch and early orbital testing of the first Space Based Infrared Systems satellite, GEO-1. The testing, which began in December 2008, included assessing more than 1.5 million source lines of code by exercising the ground system in "a robust combination of operational scenarios," said USAF's SBIRS Wing in a release Tuesday. The interim ground system will now undergo validation testing to perform final checks before its delivery in support of GEO-1's placement in orbit, which is expected in 2011, to bolster US capability to detect and track ballistic missile launches. Lockheed Martin builds and maintains the SBIRS ground segment, which is located in Boulder, Colo.

With space debris posing a growing danger to spacecraft and satellites, DARPA says it is exploring the merits of removing man-made debris from Earth orbit. This study, known as Catcher’s Mitt, will model debris, both now and projected in the...

Boeing announced Monday that it has delivered the 500th Combat Track II airborne intelligence kit to the Air Force. These systems give aircrews on B-1B and B-52H bombers and C-130 and C-17 transports enhanced situational awareness and allow for faster,...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Dec. 11, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 27 25 52 16,399 CAS/Armed Recon 18 54 72 33,395 Airlift 142 142 46,798 Air refueling 42 42 16,360 Total 308 112,952 OIF=Operation Iraqi...