Daily Report

Nov. 16, 2009

Stealth Connection

USAF’s F-35 beddown decisions may affect where F-22s end up, according to the service’s installation czar. When the service unveiled it list of 11 candidate locations to host the F-35 next decade, Holloman AFB, N.M., was included as a potential...

Trying to Make Hay

The governor of Montana and his National Guard leadership want to convince the Air Force to give the 120th Fighter Wing another mission in addition to the F-15s it now flies and suggest new cargo aircraft or perhaps remotely piloted...

From Short Shrift to Moving Fast

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has turned the corner, so to speak, and now believes USAF is on the right track in its efforts to quickly field more intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capability. He had complained that Air Force leaders were not turning out...

Sometimes Monotony Is Good

Likely due to the still shaky economy, the military services are continuing to reap recruiting dividends following a banner year in 2009. In the first month of the new fiscal year, according to the latest statistics released by the Pentagon...

GAO Disputes Union Conflict

Is there a built-in bias within the Government Accountability Office that would have it favor Boeing over Northrop Grumman in the KC-X tanker contest? There’s been a suggestion that Northrop might allege GAO would not be a “suitable arbiter” since...

The Triad’s Fourth Leg

A crucial component of the nation’s strategic nuclear triad that did not get the attention it deserved after the Cold War ended is its “fourth leg,” the command and control element that links it to the President at all times,...

Simple Message

Speaking to military personnel and their families at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, where he stopped over Nov. 12 on his way to Asia, President Obama said he had to take the opportunity to “deliver a simple message—a message of thanks to...

ANG Hog Pilot Tapped for F-35

The Air Force has selected Maj. Jay Spohn with the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Fighter Wing to be among the initial cadre of 10 active and two reserve pilots to fly the new F-35 strike fighter. (The Air Force has not yet released a comprehensive list. We reported on Lt. Col. Stephen Pieper and Maj. Chad Lewis, at Luke AFB, Ariz.; a report from Eglin AFB, Fla., has Maj. Lee Kloos among the 10; Maj. Ben Bishop, at Nellis AFB, Nev., is on the list, reported the Las Vegas Sun.) All the applicants have previous instructor time in the A-10, F-15, or F-16. Spohn begins his transition in December, training to fly the F-15C first at Tyndall AFB, Fla. Eglin is slated to receive its first F-35s in August 2010. (188th FW report by Capt. Heath Allen)

In the US Bag

The National Aeronautic Association has confirmed the records claimed by a C-5M Super Galaxy during a Sept. 13 flight out of Dover AFB, Del., NAA told Air Mobility Command and Lockheed Martin in an e-mail, according to a Nov. 12...

Together Again

Airmen from Sheppard AFB, Tex., helped return the wedding ring that retired Col. James Hivner was forced to give up when taken prisoner during the Vietnam War in a special ceremony last week at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison,...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia

Nov. 8-11, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 110 125 235 14,748 CAS/Armed Recon 96 314 410 30,695 Airlift 613 613 42,341 Air refueling 199 199 15,118 Total 1,457 102,902 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...