Daily Report

Remember the $100 billion that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the services could keep for modernization if they found enough savings in overhead? Well, that may not happen, Marine Gen. James Cartwright told attendees last week at the Credit Suisse/Aviation...

The X-37B, USAF’s first unmanned re-entry space vehicle, returned to Earth Friday. It landed at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in the early morning hours after conducting experiments on orbit for more than 220 days. The Orbital Test Vehicle One (OTV-1) fired...

As the current session of Congress ticks to an end, President Obama appears to be gaining support for a vote on ratification of the New START arms reduction treaty. Nine Republican senators are now on the record supporting or indicating...

Despite discouraging news about F-35 costs at a recent Defense Acquisition Board program review, there’s been no move to cut the size of the program, said Pentagon acquisition czar Ashton Carter. Speaking last week at the Credit Suisse/Aviation Week aerospace...

The Air Force’s newest operational B-52 unit, the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, N.D., has arrived for its first deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam, since the unit was reactivated in September 2009. The squadron is replacing Minot’s 23rd BS...

The bomber rotations to Andresen, AFB, Guam have “done several things,” Brig. Gen. Timothy Ray, operations director for Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a recent interview. They give crews the “chance to deploy forward and focus on a...

Airmen have assumed responsibility for MQ-9 Reaper maintenance at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, for the first time since these armed remotely piloted aircraft began combat operations in that nation in September 2007. Nearly 75 airmen last week took over the maintenance...

Exercise Keen Sword, a US-Japanese simulated defense of the Japanese homeland, kicked off last week and runs through Friday. USAF units from air bases in Japan and Andersen AFB, Guam, converged on Japan Air Self Defense Force base Komatsu for...

The Royal Australian Air Force last week retired the last F-111 fighter-bombers still in service anywhere in the world. The US and Australian air forces were the sole operators of the F-111, which entered RAAF service in 1973. USAF retired...

The Pentagon is not out to slash defense contractor profits, Pentagon acquisition czar Ashton Carter said last week. He told attendees at a New York investor’s conference that a profitable defense industry “is in the national interest and we recognize...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Nov. 27, 2010 Sortie Type OND OEF OND/OEF Total YTD ISR 19 65 84 25,545 CAS/Armed Recon 12 103 115 32,603 Airlift 170 170 57,475 Air refueling 44 44 16,085 Rescue 3 3 7,518 Total...