Daily Report

Sept. 9, 2009

In Retrospect

The nearly set-in-stone decision to cap F-22 production at 187 aircraft “will leave the United States with, at best, a high-risk F-22 force” and jeopardize the ability of the US military to attain rapid air dominance in future conflict, argues...

Beefed Up Monitoring

The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., is now capable of monitoring all of the more than 800 active maneuverable satellites on orbit to warn of pending collisions with other satellites and known space debris. The center’s capacity...

Building Expansion Starts for Cyber Training Unit

Air Force officials broke ground Sept. 1 at Hurlburt Field, Fla., on the building expansion project for the 39th Information Operations Squadron, currently USAF’s only cyber and IO formal training unit. The project will add 4,500 sq. ft. to the...

Maverick Upgrade

Airmen with the 86th Munitions Squadron at Ramstein AB, Germany, led a team last month that upgraded the base’s stock of AGM-65 Maverick H- and K-model air-to-ground missiles. They installed a new software circuit card in the missiles’ guidance control...

Up to the Challenge

Members of the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing have been meeting all their mission requirements and maintaining a 100 percent mission success rate during their first deployment to Southwest Asia with their C-21 transports. Members of the wing—all...

Tag Teaming

More than 400 airmen from the 335th Fighter Squadron, an F-15E unit, and the 4th Maintenance Group departed Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., last week on a four-month combat rotation to Bagram AB, Afghanistan. From Bagram, they will provide close air...

Another C-130J for Ramstein

Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that the 37th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein AB, Germany, on Sept. 1 took delivery of the fifth of the 14 C-130J transports that it is scheduled to receive by next year. The unit received its first C-130J in April; the new aircraft are replacing its C-130Es that are being retired. Among their duties, the Ramstein C-130Js will support the needs of Ramstein’s 17th Air Force (Air Forces Africa), the air component of US Africa Command. “When you look at the power of the C-130J, and the legs [range] that it has, it is ideally suited to the size of the African continent and our mission there,” said Maj. Gen. Ronald Ladnier, 17th AF commander, who accepted the aircraft. Five more C-130Js are scheduled for delivery to Ramstein this year, with the remaining four slated for arrival in 2010.

Alaska Leads the Way

Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, home to aircraft including the C-17 and F-22, on Sept. 1 became the first Air Force base in the Pacific Rim to blend a thermally stable additive known as Plus 100 to its JP-8 aviation fuel. The...

Nearly 65 Years Later

The 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., held a ceremony on Aug. 29 to award Howard Thornton, now 85, the medals that he earned as an aerial gunner on B-24 bombers in the European theater during World War...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia

Sept. 2-4, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 82 98 180 10,812 CAS/Armed Recon 72 243 315 23,843 Airlift 420 420 32,568 Air refueling 168 168 11,683 Total 1,083 78,906 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...