Daily Report

April 8, 2010

Welcome to Kandahar

The first MC-12W intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft that will operate from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, as part of the 361st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron arrived there March 29 and flew its first combat sortie three days later. The squadron, part of Kandahar’s 451st Air...

DeMIRVing

The United States will reduce the nuclear payload on each of its Minuteman III ICBMs down “to a single warhead” under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, says Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint...

Reaching Out

EADS has been in discussions with several aerospace companies in the hopes of securing a key US partner—such as a military aircraft integrator—if it decides to compete for the Air Force’s KC-X tanker contract. Reuters news service reported Tuesday that...

Decoupling

In addition to pledging not to attack non-nuclear states with nuclear weapons (see Less Ambiguous), the United States is also modifying its declaratory policy on how it would deal with non-nuclear nations that attack with chemical or biological weapons, Defense...

No More Nuclear Tomahawks

The Pentagon intends to retire the Navy’s inventory of aging nuclear-tipped Tomahawk land-attack missile-Navy (TLAM-N), Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in the Pentagon on the release of...

Long-Range Lifesavers

Talk about a dramatic rescue. Members of the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield came together with Marine Corps and Coast Guard units and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., from...

Transient Village

Airmen of the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron are finishing construction of “All American Square” at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. It is a facility designed to temporarily house the US military personnel pouring into the base as they redeploy out...

Cadet of the Year

Cadet Col. Ryan Castonia, an Air Force ROTC cadet wing commander with Det. 365 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on April 5 received the 2009 Air Force Cadet of the Year Award from Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff,...

Air Sorties from SWA 040310

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, April 3-4, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 55 86 141 5,679 CAS/Armed Recon 44 152 196 8,553 Airlift 382 382 15,710 Air refueling 88 88 3,942 Rescue 36 36 857 Total...