Daily Report

April 2, 2012

Pentagon: 9/11 Victims’ Remains Treated with Dignity

A Defense Department review found that personnel at the Air Force-run military mortuary at Dover AFB, Del., treated the remains of victims of the 9/11 attack at the Pentagon with “care, dignity, and respect,” said Jo Ann Rooney, DOD’s acting...

Cruise Missile’s Start Slips

The Air Force’s Fiscal 2013 budget request delays by two years—to Fiscal 2015—the start of the Long Range Standoff Missile, the service’s future nuclear-capable cruise missile, two generals told lawmakers last week. LRSO, as it is known, is the planned...

F-35 Costs Rise in Latest Pentagon Estimate

The estimated cost of the F-35 strike fighter program has grown by some $17 billion from $379 billion to $396 billion, according to the Pentagon’s latest reporting figures provided to Congress. According to the newly released selected acquisition reports, which...

Energy Costs Rising Despite Reduced Consumption

Despite decreasing fuel consumption and electricity use, the Air Force’s energy costs are rising, stated Terry Yonkers, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and logistics, on Capitol Hill last week. The service spent more than $9.7 billion...

Alternative Fuels Update

The Air Force has begun evaluating a new type of alternative fuel for its aircraft fleet known as alcohol-to-jet, said Terry Yonkers, the service’s assistant secretary for installations, environment, and logistics. ATJ fuel is derived from cellulosic materials—like wood waste,...

Unemployment Rate High for Returning Guardsmen

The Defense Department estimates that 20 percent of National Guard airmen and soldiers have no civilian jobs when they return from service in Southwest Asia, Gen. Craig McKinley, National Guard Bureau chief, told the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel last...

Aeromedical Evacuation Schoolhouse for Wright-Patt

The Air Force is establishing a formal training unit for aeromedical evacuation at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, co-located with its School of Aerospace Medicine, said Maj. Gen. Kimberly Siniscalchi, USAF’s assistant surgeon general for medical force development and nursing services. “This...

Training to the Edge

Taking advantage of transitioning from the legacy C-130 Hercules to the C-130J, the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., is reworking training profiles to reflect deployed tactics in Afghanistan. “Our idea, when we came here to stand up the...

Herculean Task, One Way or Another

The Air Force is soliciting information from industry on modernizing legacy C-130H transports with communication, navigation, and air traffic systems compliant with international airspace norms. Now that the service intends to cancel the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program in Fiscal 2013...

Trials on High

Airbus Military’s A400M airlifter recently visited South America for the first time, conducting high-altitude performance trials from La Paz, Bolivia, announced the company. “I am pleased to say that the early results from these trials have been very positive,” said...