Daily Report

Feb. 4, 2009

Preserve Reserve’s Strategic Nature

So says, Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., Air Force Reserve chief and head of Air Force Reserve Command. Speaking before a gathering Monday at the Reserve Officers Association mid-winter conference in Washington, D.C., Stenner said, while the military’s reserve components...

A Big Player

The Air Force Reserve will have a large role over the next few years as USAF addresses two of its top priorities—reinvigorating the nuclear enterprise and recapitalizing the force—says Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., the service’s top Reserve officer. Air...

Acquisition Update

The Air Force expects to be able to make a decision on the winning CSAR-X helicopter “by the spring timeframe,” according to Maj. Gen. Randy Fullhart, director of global reach programs in the Air Force Secretariat. Appearing Feb. 1 on...

Don’t Delay Bomber Recap

The need for deep-penetrating and survivable strike capability to go after time-sensitive targets justifies the urgency in fielding the next-generation bomber in 2018, states a report that the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments issued yesterday. At the same time,...

Getting Airborne

Northrop Grumman has gotten the green light from the Air Force to begin flight tests of the MP-RTIP advanced electronically scanned array radar system that it is building, together with Raytheon, for the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. This...

FABulous News

The Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., has just delivered the first Boeing-built FAB-T terminal to the B-2 program office for integration testing on the stealth bomber. FAB-T, which stands for family of advanced beyond-line-of-sight terminals, will enhance the...

B-2 Radar Challenges

The Air Force will face difficulty in fully vetting the new radar system for the B-2A bomber during initial operational test and evaluation drills due to the “marginal performance” of the radar in development testing, according to the recently released...

Adieu, Old Friend

A B-52H bomber from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., left the base for good on Jan. 21, on a flight to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., where it will be placed in recallable storage by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance...

Taking Control

Northrop Grumman announced Monday that it has successfully demonstrated command and control of a simulated GPS Block IIR-M satellite using an engineering model of its next-generation GPS ground control segment. The demonstration was part of the company’s ongoing risk-reduction activities...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest Asia

Feb. 1-2, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 55 27 82 1,271 CAS/Armed Recon 78 120 198 3,225 Airlift 250 250 4,207 Air refueling 100 100 1,510 Total 630 10,213 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...