Daily Report

Jan. 20, 2011

Phase One of GPS Repositioning Project Complete

Airmen with the 2nd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo., have completed the repositioning of three Global Positioning System satellites on orbit, closing out the first of two phases in a project known as “Expandable 24.” Its purpose is...

Vandenberg Preps for Delta IV Heavy Launch

The first-ever West Coast launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is slated for Thursday at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. This Delta IV variant, at 23 stories tall, is the largest rocket that the Air Force has ever...

KC-10 Surpasses Two Decades Abroad

The Air Force dispatched KC-10 tankers to the Persian Gulf in January 1991 during the opening salvos of the first Gulf War. They have remained there ever since and on Monday of this week the aircraft type celebrated 20 years...

Ohio Reserve Unit Begins C-17 Training

Members of Air Force Reserve Command's 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will begin their C-17 training on Thursday with an aircraft on loan from JB Charleston, S.C. A 445th AW aircrew will fly the C-17 from Charleston to Wright-Patterson, according to a wing release. The unit will use this C-17 as a maintenance trainer. A second C-17 is scheduled to arrive in Ohio next month to provide 445th AW aircrews with a training platform. Already 32 maintainers from the wing have trained at Charleston and 10 pilots and six loadmasters—equating to three C-17 aircrews—have completed their training at Altus AFB, Okla., said wing officials. The Air Force intends to bring eight C-17s to Wright-Patterson by the end of Fiscal 2012 to replace the wing's 10 C-5As as part of a broader plan to retire up to 22 C-5As fleet-wide.

William Spruance Dies

Retired Brig. Gen. William W. Spruance (at left in photo with Johnny Alison), long-time airpower proponent, Air National Guard champion, and flying safety advocate, died in his home in Las Vegas on Jan. 15. He was 94. “We owe profound...

Raytheon Nears Opening of GPS Center

Raytheon is slated to open the doors on its new Global Positioning System Collaboration Center next month in El Segundo, Calif. The company has designed the 17,900-square-foot facility to enable increased communication and cooperation with Air Force personnel from the...

Lockheed Inducts Next C-5 for Upgrades

Another Air Force C-5B transport aircraft has entered Lockheed Martin’s facility in Marietta, Ga., to receive new General Electric F138-GE-100 engines and numerous reliability improvements, the company announced Wednesday. This is the fifth C-5B inducted into Marietta since the Reliability...

Air Force Surgeon is Top Male Athlete

Capt. James Bales, a triathlete training for the 2012 Olympics, is the Air Force’s 2010 male athlete of the year. Bales is an orthopedic surgeon with the 21st Force Support Squadron at the Air Force Academy Hospital in Colorado Springs,...