Daily Report

Oct. 6, 2011

Hovering Again

The Air Force is temporarily holding off on releasing the draft request for proposal for the Common Vertical Lift Support Platform until the service’s budget picture is clearer for Fiscal 2013 and beyond. The Daily Report confirmed on Wednesday that...

Air Force Honored for GPS Contribution

The Air Force’s Global Positioning System program received the International Astronautical Federation’s special 60th Anniversary Award for outstanding achievement in space applications. IAF recognized the “uniqueness of the GPS program and the exemplary role it has played in building international...

Hardened but Narrow

After a decade of counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army is battle-hardened but unprepared to fight a broader array of potential threats, said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of US Army Europe. “What I might suggest is that...

Mentors by Land, Partners by Air

While US Air Forces in Europe is looking to decrease mentorship of smaller militaries to free funding for cooperation with more capable peers, US Army Europe is reinforcing its outreach. “I can train your guys relatively cheaply from a land-force...

Expanded Buffer Zones Eyed for Malmstrom’s Missiles

The Air Force is trying to find a way to compensate land owners so it can expand the buffer zones around its Minuteman III missile silos and missile alert facilities at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., reported the Great Falls Tribune. Malmstrom...

Spain Agrees to Host US Ships for NATO Missile Defense

Spain Hosts US Ships for NATO Missile Defense: Spain will port four US Navy Aegis ships at Rota on the Atlantic coast in support of NATO’s ballistic missile defense umbrella. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made the announcement on Wednesday with...

Panetta Addresses Lessons of Libya, Afghanistan for NATO

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, having arrived on European soil, praised NATO for its joint efforts in Libya, but said that operation also demonstrated capability gaps that need to be addressed. Speaking Tuesday at the Carnegie Europe Center in Brussels on...

Strait Talk

The United States will continue to help Taiwan bolster its defensive capabilities as US officials also monitor China’s military developments, Peter Lavoy, principal assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told lawmakers. “Stability in the Taiwan Strait...

APEX Airman Reaches New Heights

SSgt. Nathan Dunn became the first C-17 aerial port expeditor to load his 1,000th aircraft. Dunn hit the milestone on Oct. 4 at Incirlik AB, Turkey, where he is on a volunteer deployment serving with the 728th Air Mobility Squadron....

Strategic Changes

The United States must reconsider its national security strategy in light of major upcoming budget cuts, asserts a new Center for New American Security report. The world has changed dramatically since the Obama Administration released its strategy in May 2010,...

Cold War Cipher Machine Goes on Display

The Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency at Joint Base San Antonio added a Cold War Soviet cipher machine to its display of cryptologic devices. The M-125 Fialka, meaning “violent” in English, is a 10-rotor cipher device used in...