Daily Report

The Air Force on Friday announced it had formally started the clock in a search for basing locations for the MC-12W Liberty Project aircraft, which already are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the announcement, the basing criteria the service will use include mission and training requirements, airspace, infrastructure, environmental concerns, and cost. Currently, the only stateside-based MC-12s are with the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing, which USAF tapped early last year to serve as a temporary training site to help speed delivery of crews to combat operations. Air Combat Command will develop a candidate list of potential bases, at which point the environmental process will start and so will community participation. Later this summer, USAF expects to release its preferred locations and in April 2011, the service should release its list of final selections.

The Pentagon on March 19 released new unit cost estimates for the F-35 strike fighter, indicating that the program had increased by 57 to 89 percent over its established baseline. As we reported earlier, Pentagon acquisition chief Ash Carter had told the Senate Armed Services that the F-35 would break Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds. Anything over a 50 percent increase above the baseline, per Nunn-McCurdy, requires program recertification. Per the just-released cost estimates, in then-year dollars, which some consider a more accurate rendering, each F-35 will cost between $114 million and $135 million. The Pentagon had expected to buy 2,852 fighters in the original baseline program; the new estimates are based on 2,443 aircraft.

The KC-X saga continues as the Pentagon indicated last week it might consider an extension of the request for proposals deadline to allow EADS time to submit a solo bid. Following the pullout of the Northrop Grumman-EADS team, only Boeing...

Boeing tanker proponents Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. Pat Roberts, and Rep. Todd Tiahrt—all Kansas Republicans—wrote in a March 16 letter to Defense Secretary Bob Gates, “Several European officials seem to suggest that failure to change the military requirements to meet...

A senior defense official told lawmakers last week that the Nuclear Posture Review, initially due out with the Administration’s 2011 budget, had been delayed simply because it “is more comprehensive and complex than the prior two,” characterizing the first two...

Enlisted recruiting and retention continues to be successful, according to the data for February just released by the Pentagon. All made or bettered their goals for the month, except the Marine Corps, which the Pentagon said had “purposefully missed” its...

Operators of the MQ-1B Predator remotely piloted vehicle assigned to the 432nd Wing at Creech AFB, Nev., have surpassed 700,000 flying hours, achieving 200,000 of that in just over 12 months. The record flight occurred March 12. The RPV’s first...

SSgt. Justin Wilson, an F-15E crew chief deployed to the 494th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, spotted an anomaly on a Strike Eagle just prior to its take off March 12. He alerted the aircrew to return...

The US Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo., announced last week that its applications for the Class of 2014 had increased over the previous year by 17.2 percent overall and 36 percent for minorities. An average class comprises 1,300...

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) announced Friday that the House had voted 410-0 that day to support his bill (H.R. 2788) designating the memorial under construction at March Field Air Museum in California as the Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial. In floor remarks on the measure, Calvert said the memorial, which is sponsored by the Distinguished Flying Cross Society, the Air Force Association, and other military and veteran associations, would honor all current and former DFC recipients. He specifically noted that despite receiving the national memorial designation, no federal funds would be used, saying, "Funds have been and will continue to be raised through private means."

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, March 16, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 28 36 64 4,405 CAS/Armed Recon 4 74 78 6,709 Airlift 187 187 12,187 Air refueling 37 37 3,095 Rescue 30 30 325 Total...