Daily Report

Oct. 25, 2011

Nellis Eagle Crashes

An F-15C that took off from Nellis AFB, Nev., crashed in a remote area roughly 115 miles north of Las Vegas around 4:45 p.m. on Monday, according to base officials. The piloted ejected and sustained no injuries, they said. A...

Airman Dies in Afghanistan

A1C Jerome D. Miller Jr., 23, of Washington, D.C., died due to a non-combat-related incident in Parwan province, Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced Monday. Miller was assigned to the 459th Security Forces Squadron at JB Andrews, Md. He died on...

Libyan Trick or Treat

There’s no apparent reason to continue NATO’s air mission in Libya beyond Halloween, said Lt. Gen. Ralph Jodice, allied air component commander for NATO’s southern region, Monday. Jodice told the Daily Report that “we do not have any ongoing planning...

Until Then

Until Operation Unified Protector shuts down on Oct. 31, NATO will continue to run missions over Libya, principally intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance flights and enforcement of the no-fly zone and arms embargo, according to NATO’s air commander, Lt. Gen. Ralph Jodice. He told...

At Least It’s Not the Full Fleet

So far only JB Langley-Eustis, Va., and JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, have “paused” F-22 flight operations, after two Virginia-based Raptor pilots exhibited hypoxia-like symptoms last week. The other bases where F-22s regularly operate—Edwards AFB, Calif., Holloman AFB, N.M., Nellis AFB, Nev.,...

Reapers over Fort Drum

Members of the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing in Syracuse began flying training sorties with MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft out of the Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield on the grounds of Ft. Drum. Federal Aviation Administration approval for...

Out of the Geosynchronous Ashes

DARPA has unveiled a program called Phoenix that seeks to utilize valuable, still-useful components from retired satellites in geosynchronous orbit to assemble new spacecraft in space. “If this program is successful, space debris becomes space resource,” said DARPA Director Regina...

The Leading Edge

Ten years ago this month, six B-2s from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., struck the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, kick-starting Operation Enduring Freedom. One of the B-2s in that initial wave flew a 44.3-hour mission, still the...

First Afghan Caravans Arrive

The first three of six Cessna 208B Caravans recently touched down at Shindand AB, Afghanistan, for use as advanced trainers by the Afghan air force. After undergraduate flight training in smaller Cessna 182s—the first of which arrived last month—AAF student...

Viva la Asociacion

Advisors with the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron from Travis AFB, Calif., recently met with Honduran air force officials for the first time in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to identify potential mentorship areas. “The most important part of the experience was the...

Last B-53 Nuclear Bomb Dismantlement

National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Tuesday will gather at the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Tex., to celebrate the dismantlement of the final B53 nuclear bomb in the US inventory. NNSA officials said the elimination of the B53 is a...

Gangs in the Military

Gang recruitment of active duty military personnel “constitutes a significant criminal threat to the US military,” according to the FBI’s 2011 national gang threat assessment. “Members of nearly every major street gang, as well as some prison gangs and [outlaw...