Daily Report

March 2, 2011

Airmen Killed, Wounded in Shooting in Germany

A gunman killed two airmen and wounded two other airmen in an incident Wednesday at Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, US Air Forces in Europe officials announced. The Air Force is withholding the names of the deceased pending notification...

Long-Range-Strike Funding Explained

The $3.7 billion figure that senior Pentagon officials have been citing as the funding for the future long-range-strike family of systems over the next five fiscal years is actually the amount of funding programmed for the Air Force’s Next Generation...

Air Force Launches Flagship Concepts

The Air Force science and technology community has begun work to demonstrate a high-velocity penetrating weapon, reusable space-access system, and new cyber capability under a promising new initiative, said Stephen Walker, USAF’s deputy assistant secretary of science, technology, and engineering,...

Roy Visits Colombian Military

CMSAF James Roy last month visited a host of Colombia military sites to reaffirm US Southern Command’s commitment to the bilateral partnership and to explore professional military education exchange opportunities between USAF and the Columbian air force. “Our two nations...

Experimenting with ISR

Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, said Tuesday the Defense Department needs to enhance the integration of intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capabilities between air and ground components in Southwest Asia. As an example, "We support a limited objective experiment to refine the requirement for a manned, armed ISR asset attuned to the unique challenges of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan," Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on CENTCOM's posture for Fiscal 2012. Mattis also said the Pentagon should continue investing in ISR technology, infrastructure, architecture, tools, and personnel to build on the gains already achieved in theater. (Mattis' prepared statement)

Filling the Cyber Shortfall

Marine Gen. James Mattis, US Central Command boss, asked Senate defense overseers Tuesday for their support in enabling the "effective integration and extension" of warfighting networks between the United States and its coalition partners. Such connectivity "from maritime environments to the aerial layer and over rugged mountainous terrain" is essential to CENTCOM's success, he wrote in prepared remarks to the Senate Armed Service Committee. Mattis said networks currently are "divided" among various services, agencies, and combatant commands, "resulting in degraded and delayed actions that have allowed our adversaries to exploit this fundamental cyber shortfall for too long." However, one "bright network spot" is the Afghan Mission Network because it allows US and coalition forces and civilians to remain connected and synchronized on the battlefield and linked to supporting assets throughout the world, he noted.

Community Assessment Deadline Extended

The Air Force has extended the deadline to submit completed 2011 community assessment surveys from later this month to April 3. Back in January, USAF officials sent out invitations to more than 350,000 randomly selected active duty airmen, reservists, spouses,...

Expanding Logistics Network at Robins

A new $24.6 million warehouse has opened at Robins AFB, Ga. The building is the end result of a BRAC 2005 decision to make the base one of four strategic distribution platforms in the Defense Logistics Agency’s worldwide supply network....

Airmen Awarded Bronze Star

MSgt. Gregory Miller and SSgt. Thomas Hamilton have each received the Bronze Star Medal for their meritorious service during separate year-long deployments to Afghanistan. Miller, assigned to the 46th Maintenance Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla., managed nearly $40 million in...

Another Globemaster Down Under

Australia is interested in procuring a fifth C-17 transport, the Australian defense ministry announced Tuesday. It has sent a letter of request to the United States government seeking information on the potential purchase under a US foreign military sales agreement,...