Daily Report

Dec. 6, 2011

Lockheed Martin Tapped to Demonstrate Reusable Spacelift

The Air Force has selected Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the Reusable Booster System, a winged, rocket-powered spacelift vehicle envisioned as a more affordable and responsive option to current expendable space launch vehicles, announced the company on Monday. “We are very...

Final Balad Boss Relinquishes Command

Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, the final commander of Joint Base Balad, Iraq, relinquished command of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The Dec. 4 ceremony culminated a 14-month process that saw Neubauer oversee the...

F-16s Ordered for Iraq

The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $835 million contract for 18 F-16 Block 52 aircraft for the Iraqi air force, announced the Defense Department on Monday. Under a foreign military sales arrangement, Iraq will receive 12 F-16Cs and...

New Maintenance Group at Kirtland

Air Force officials will activate the 377th Maintenance Group during a ceremony Wednesday at Kirtland AFB, N.M. The new group will assume the roles and responsibilities of the 798th Munitions Maintenance Group at Minot AFB, N.D., and 498th MUMG at...

NATO in the Time of Austerity

With several European allies reeling from economic troubles and the United States slated to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from its defense budget, NATO members have to think multilaterally about how they modernize their militaries and spend on defense,...

Angel Thunder Gets its Wings

Six years after beginning as an annual base-level exercise at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., Angel Thunder, the first US military personnel recovery exercise, attained official Defense Department accreditation. “This is a David and Goliath story of an exercise being founded by...

Off to Solid Start

The Air Force’s active duty component met its enlisted recruiting goal through October, the first month of the new fiscal year, by attracting 1,399 new recruits, according to the Pentagon’s newest recruiting numbers. So did the Air Force Reserve, matching...

Senators Want More Insights into AirSea Battle

Included in the Senate's version of the Fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill (S.1867) is language that directs the Defense Department to provide a report on the fledgling AirSea Battle concept. The senators want both an unclassified report and a classified version within six months of the defense bill becoming law. They want DOD to discuss the plan, which calls for greater integration of air and naval capabilities, and how the Air Force and Navy plan to implement it. Among the topics, the senators want information on the gaps between ASB requirements and DOD's current force structure and capabilities. They also want to know the five most critical force structure areas or capabilities requiring increased or sustained investment to implement the concept. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) sponsored the provision, which senators adopted on Nov. 30, the day before they passed the bill.

McConnell Maintenance Complex Joins Active Duty and Reserve

Representatives from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s 931st Air Refueling Group cut the ribbon on a renovated maintenance complex at McConnell AFB, Kan. The redesigned facility will house both active duty airmen and Reservists from...

Friendly Review

On a review of Royal Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint training with USAF’s 55th Wing, Britain’s ranking air power development officer visited Offutt AFB, Neb. “Seeing the training first-hand leaves me very, very excited” for delivery of Britain’s RC-135 aircraft,...