Daily Report

Jan. 18, 2012

Working Together to Improve Global Satellite Communications

The United States has joined with five nations to form a nearly 20-year multilateral partnership for the Wideband Global Satellite Communications constellation. “This agreement builds upon a similar and hugely successful model established with Australia,” said Heidi Grant, USAF’s deputy...

Getting ISR on the Same Page

The Air Force oversaw the explosion of investment in intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms, like the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, over the last decade to feed the appetites for full-motion video and other sensor data to support operations in...

Changing Assumptions in the Persian Gulf

With the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States should re-evaluate its strategy for operating in the Persian Gulf, asserts a new Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report. The proliferation of Iran’s anti-access and area-denial capabilities threatens long-held...

Overlapping Portfolios

The capabilities needed to defeat Iran’s area-denial attempts in the Persian Gulf are the same ones needed to support the Pentagon’s fledgling AirSea Battle concept in the Western Pacific, according to a new Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report...

German Government Honors Airman in Frankfurt Shooting

SSgt. Trevor Brewer, an airman from Gray, Tenn., received Germany’s highest civilian award for his role in helping to apprehend the Islamic extremist who shot two airmen to death in a cold-blooded bus attack last March at the main airport...

Year in Review: November 2011

Air Frame: Year in Review, November 2011: Congress failed to draft a bipartisan plan to cut the nation's deficit by its Thanksgiving deadline, leaving the Pentagon facing the prospect of some $1 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade. Also in November, the Air Force announced plans to eliminate about 9,000 civilian positions and approved a new deployment scheme called Air and Space Expeditionary Force Next. Also, service officials said the new bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator was available for combat. A USAF investigation found that mortuary officials at Dover AFB, Del., had mishandled the remains of several fallen service personnel. Also, Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers, USAF's longest serving airman, retired after 46 years of service and officials phased out the Battle Dress Uniform. Here, Flowers (right) at his retirement ceremony, Nov. 17, 2011. Air Force photo by MSgt. Raheem Moore

Minuteman Launch Control Centers Get Communications Boost

The Air Force is upgrading the strategic satellite communications terminal in Minuteman ICBM launch control centers, recently awarding Raytheon a $9.4 million contract for this work. The terminals receive the emergency action messages used in the command and control of...

Osan Operations Center Adds Army Cell

Members of the 607th Air and Space Operations Center at Osan AB, South Korea, welcomed the addition of 8th Army’s joint interface control cell to the center’s combat operations division. “This first ever merger of an Army-level joint interface control...

Tailor Made

The recently selected A-29 Super Tucano is “tailor made” for the Afghan air force’s counterinsurgency mission, said Brig. Gen. Tim Ray, commanding general of NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan. The aircraft “is the most kinetic, most offensive aircraft” that the Afghans...

Fisher House Comes to PACAF

Officials at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, inaugurated the Fisher House of Alaska to house, free of charge, families of service personnel undergoing treatment at the base hospital. “We are thrilled to have a Fisher House on JBER and we are extremely...