Daily Report

The Air Force is undertaking a year-long assessment of technologies that can improve everything from its fighting power to bookkeeping, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday. In his address to AFA’s Air & Space Conference, he said the...

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said he’s sure there will be some “surprises” in the F-35 flight test program, but overall, he feels it’s safe to bet on the program’s success. “We’ve invested billions in risk reduction” on the...

The Air Force knows very well that it’s under heavy pressure to perform in the re-competition of the KC-X tanker, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters Tuesday. As Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Monday, Schwartz said he...

Attempting to dispel a possible misunderstanding from Air Force Secretary Michael Donley’s remarks Monday, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday that the Air Force plans to pursue extensive upgrades to legacy fighters given the reductions in the overall...

Emphasizing the team effort of modern warfare, Gen. Norton Schwartz, USAF Chief of Staff, said Sept. 15 at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that there is no victory or defeat in war for the Air Force—only success or “stumbles” for...

Airmen need to take personal responsibility for the health and reputation of the Air Force through their daily actions, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. In his featured address, Schwartz noted that...

US national security interests in Africa are best served if the US military not only works to build the capacity of African partner nations, but also applies US capability in limited, albeit meaningful ways that are consistent and well understood...

Air Force Space Command officials often speak at length about on-orbit systems and capabilities, but the head of the command would like you to remember that military space exists for one reason only: to support the needs of combat forces....

The Air Force’s arsenal of Minuteman III ICBMs is on track for its planned December switchover from Air Force Space Command to Air Force Global Strike Command. Gen. Robert Kehler, AFSPC commander, said he does not expect any delays moving...

The practice of having large numbers of officers begin their careers as missileers and subsequently move into space operations will not end when Air Force Global Strike Command takes control of 20th Air Force and USAF’s ICBM force, said Gen....

Right now the Air Force’s roadmap for fighter recapitalization shows only one Air National Guard unit getting the F-35 stealth fighter before 2021, Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, Air National Guard director, said Monday at AFA’s 2009 Air & Space Conference...

The Air Force’s nascent cyber operations organization, 24th Air Force, is still very much in the process of standing up its headquarters at Lackland AFB, Tex., Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, commander of the new cyber arm, said Monday. Speaking to...

Despite a fresh engine mishap reported during ground testing last week of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, program officials with Lockheed Martin and the Air Force insisted that the incident would have little impact on plans to accelerate development...

During a Sept. 14 panel discussion about USAF’s aging systems, Gen. Donald Hoffman, head of Air Force Materiel Command, which has just taken over nuclear system sustainment after the service’s recent round of reforms, said he has “considerably less” confidence...

With production set to ramp up and all system demonstration development aircraft either in production or on flightlines, Lockheed Martin and the Air Force are working toward the summer 2010 opening of the Integrated Training Center at Eglin AFB, Fla....

Paul Kaminski, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics in the Clinton Administration, said there are five interrelated problems with defense acquisition today that must be fixed or the system will continue to falter. Speaking at AFA’s Air &...

Today’s defense leadership is “too risk averse,” Paul Kaminski, former Pentagon technology boss, told the Daily Report Sept. 14. In recent years, senior Pentagon officials have said the way to cure programmatic ills is to wait until technology has matured...

While admitting the Air Force’s space acquisition efforts have taken their fair share of drubbings, former Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Thomas Moorman Jr. told AFA’s Air & Space Conference Sept. 14 that the future of the Air Force’s space...

Northrop Grumman expects to enter production in 2010 with its Banshee electronic warfare architecture for the B-52 bomber, following successful flight demonstrations concluded in June, Kevin Weppner, Northrop’s director of business development for RF combat and information systems, told reporters...

An Air Force MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle went down on Sunday in northern Afghanistan, while an MQ-1 Predator crashed Monday in central Iraq. The Reaper was lost during a combat mission, impacting the side of a mountain at approximately...

“To be treated as a great power,” according to Dr. Jeffrey Mankoff, adjunct fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, who spoke at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Sept. 14. He said that if one looks at the statements of...

Gen. Gregory Martin (Ret.), former Air Force Materiel boss, speaking Sept. 14 at AFA’s Air & Space Conference about the state of the defense industrial base, noted that from the end of World War II to the late 1960s, the...

Dr. Richard Downie, director of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, a DOD regional center, told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Sept. 15 that the US has committed $1.4 billion over three years to assist Mexico in its...

Sept. 11, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 29 31 60 11,225 CAS/Armed Recon 24 70 94 24,574 Airlift 141 141 33,573 Air refueling 52 52 12,060 Total 347 81,432 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...