Daily Report

On Tuesday morning, the full Senate voted to accept the Levin-McCain amendment to cut $1.75 billion Senate defense authorizers had added to the 2010 defense policy bill to keep F-22 production running beyond 187 Raptors. The vote was 58 to...

There are Navy restrictions that prevent V-22 Osprey pilots from realizing the full potential of the aircraft to avoid air defense missiles, reports the Web journal DOD Buzz. A “Marine officer who is very knowledgeable on the subject of V-22...

In addition to the Levin-McCain strike-the-F-22-dollars amendment that was to reemerge Monday or Tuesday for floor debate, there are some 148 other amendments that lawmakers are trying to tack on to the Senate version of the 2010 defense authorization bill. Most of them are defense related. For instance, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) wants the Air Force to report by Dec. 31 on the anticipated reduction in service life and associated costs for AC-130 gunships, considering the service plans to accelerate their deployments over the next seven to 10 years. (SA 1546) Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) wants the Pentagon to ensure any consideration of manned irregular airborne platforms includes all services and the reserve components, with particular emphasis on work already done on the Air National Guard's AT-6B demonstration program. (SA 1490) Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) et al want to temporarily suspend A-76 public-private demonstrations or studies that allow the services to convert work from federal employees to contractors, at least for a year or until DOD certifies to Congress that the actions meet requirements under existing US statutes. (SA 1516) Casey also wants DOD to terminate any A-76 study that has gone on for more than 30 months. Fellow Idaho Republicans Sen. Jim Risch and Sen. Mike Crapo want a report within 90 days of the enactment of the defense bill that provides the status of the Air National Guard aircraft fleet and future plans to sustain the Air Guard. (SA 1544) That report is to include input from the Air Force, Air National Guard, and the National Guard Bureau.

The Air Force has decided to move Maj. Gen. William Holland from his No. 2 slot at 9th Air Force/Air Forces Central to lead the now temporarily separate 9th Air Force. In May, USAF announced plans to temporarily split 9th...

The National Aviation Hall of Fame on July 18 enshrined three USAF airmen among the four names selected for its class of 2009. The USAF inductees are: the late Brig. Gen. Jimmy Stewart, World War II bomber pilot and one...

Air Force Reserve Command has formally changed the name of its 940th Air Refueling Wing to the 940th Wing to recognize the new multi-mission nature of the unit at Beale AFB, Calif. The wing, which lost its KC-135s as part...

The Air Force Real Property Agency has been seeking developer inputs on a Statement of Need covering a solar generation facility destined for some 3,300 acres at Edwards AFB, Calif. The deadline for comments is July 21, but developers who...

According to the Air Force’s just-released demographics snapshot that reports data as of June 30, the service has 328,763 active duty airmen, with 65,928 officers and 262,835 enlisted members. The service is still shy of its Fiscal 2010 end strength...

The Air Force on July 17 signed a lease that turns over 540 acres of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York to the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corp. (PARC) for economic reuse. The EPA and New York Gov....

Circulating on the Web, we believe first courtesy of www.f-16.net, is a PowerPoint slide presentation produced by Lockheed Martin that has rendered an F-35A model in the Thunderbird aerial demonstration team color scheme. The F-35A is the USAF conventional takeoff and landing variant. A Lockheed spokesman tells the Daily Report that the company plans to "build fully functional and realistic 3D models of all three F-35 variants to be used for any future project." Really good job. (All nine views of the F-35A Thunderbirds model in PDF format)

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJuly 17, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 24 24 48 8,234 CAS/Armed Recon 24 60 84 18,887 Airlift 149 149 26,787 Air refueling 52 52 9,061 Total 333 62,969...