Daily Report

On Feb. 11, an RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle reached 30,000 combat hours. The day before, the RQ-4 flew the 1,500th combat sortie, reaching 29,999.4 hours. So, said lead aircraft maintenance officer Capt. Michelle Campbell, “on our very next...

Deputy US Defense Secretary William Lynn shared the bad news—cost increase and schedule delay—on the F-35 strike fighter with Australian news media during a visit with Australian defense officials this week. Australia plans to buy at least two dozen and...

Speaking Feb. 9 at the Reserve Officers Association’s national convention in Washington, D.C., Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, said he’s open to re-examining—and implicitly extending—the five-year legal limit on a deployed reservist retaining reemployment rights with an...

According to a new Commerce Department study commissioned by the Navy the Pentagon comes up short when dealing with the rising tide of fake electronic components. The study, conducted from 2005 to 2008, found that among 387 companies and DOD...

The 12-nation Heavy Airlift Wing formed in July 2009 at Papa AB, Hungary to jointly operate three C-17 airlifters under the Strategic Airlift Capability arrangement has reached 1,000 flying hours with a Feb. 12 mission returning from Afghanistan. The HAW flew its first mission to Afghanistan in October 2009 and followed with a first mission to Iraq in December. The unit has also flown missions to support NATO forces in Kosovo and has participated in the international relief operations in Haiti, following the devastating Jan. 12 7.0 magnitude earthquake. USAF Col. John Zazworsky, HAW commander, said, "We have been able to transition safely from planning to high operations tempo in a very short time because of great teamwork among the Boeing training system and maintenance, NATO Airlift Management Agency, our host base, and the airmen of the HAW." (HAW Feb. 15 release; also read HAW Feb. 9 report on Haiti support by Capt. Juha Miettinen)

Lockheed Martin announced Feb. 16 that the second Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous orbit, known as GEO-2, has passed a key milestone—its first phase of baseline integrated system test, which “characterizes the overall performance of the satellite and establishes a...

USAF airmen worked with Afghan National Army Air Corps personnel to aid 83 Kuchi nomads, whose village on a sandbar in a river they could normally walk across was endangered by rising flood waters Feb. 8. The USAF airmen, members...

Raytheon has received a $38 million contract to modify GBU-15/AGM-130 weapons data link equipment used in USAF F-15 pilot training as part of a 2007 contract following reallocation of radio frequencies from the military to commercial users. n The first...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Feb. 11, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 27 38 65 2,323 CAS/Armed Recon 2 79 81 3,615 Airlift 147 147 6,554 Air refueling 43 43 1,737 Total 336 14,229 OIF=Operation Iraqi...