Daily Report

Nov. 19, 2012

A Deal, not a Grand Compromise

The Air Force and its reserve components have been discussing a “potential compromise” that would resolve the impasse over force structure cuts put forth by the service’s leadership in the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2013 budget proposal, said Air Force Secretary Michael...

ISR in an Anti-Access World

The US military’s Asia Pacific “rebalance” will place increasing demands on ISR capability, and the Air Force’s response to those demands will be different than those that have dominated in Southwest Asia in the past decade, said Lt. Gen. Larry...

The Air Force’s Evolving Global Presence

The Air Force’s global presence is under pressure as budget concerns have mounted and Congress seems to prefer to sacrifice foreign permanent bases over stateside reductions, said RAND’s Stacie Pettyjohn at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. She noted...

Lessons of the Israeli-Hezbollah War

The summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict holds lessons for military and civilian leaders, especially for practitioners of air- and space power, Benjamin Lambeth, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles...

EOD Tech Decorated for Valor

TSgt. Joseph Deslauriers received the Silver Star for gallantry during combat in Afghanistan last year during a Nov. 14 ceremony at the Pentagon. Despite being injured by an IED detonator Desalauriers, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician aided in disarming the...

Top Officials Address Sexual Assault in Letter to Airmen

The Air Force’s top civilian, top officer, and top enlisted airman signed out a Letter to Airmen Thursday telling the force that “every airman is either part of the solution or part of the problem” when it comes to sexual...

Winners and Losers?

The latest reported adjustments to the Air Force's original aircraft force structure plan for 2013 include at least one purported winner and two prospective losers. USAF officials have been talking with lawmakers and state officials as it tries to save the force structure plan it rolled out with its Fiscal 2013 budget proposal—the one that Congress decided needed a so-called "strategic pause" and that placed a larger share of the pain this time on reserve components. Late last week, USAF officials told the Alabama Congressional delegation that it had currently scrapped plans to remove the seven C-130s of Air Force Reserve Command's 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell AFB, Ala. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a joint statement Nov. 15, "We have been in close contact with the Air Force and are encouraged by the news that they no longer plan to relocate C-130 aircraft from Maxwell." However, he added that "the decision is not final, but this is positive news." Also last week, lawmakers in Alaska and Arkansas got word that planned aircraft changes in their states are moving forward. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) on Nov. 15 asked fellow senators to halt any mission reassignments within the Air National Guard for 2013, reports Arkansas News.com. Under current plans, the Arkansas ANG's 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith would lose its A-10s. Alaskan lawmakers believe a housing study released last week that shows a lack of rental housing in Anchorage bolsters their view that USAF should not move F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. However, the News-Miner reports that an Air Force spokesman said no single negative study would change USAF's plan. (For background on this issue, read Finding a Compromise.)

The Word is Shift

Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, head of the Air National Guard, told officer and enlisted airmen attending ANG’s 2012 Senior Leadership Conference in Leesburg, Va., last week, “As we plot the way ahead for the Air National Guard, we...

Try Wonder Wingtips

Lockheed Martin recently tested new wingtip designs aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of the C-5M Super Galaxy. Engineers tested two separate “winglet” designs fitted to a 10-foot C-5 model in the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel at the Arnold Engineering...

AFRC Seeks New Cost-Saving Headquarters

Air Force Reserve Command officials formally unveiled a model last week of the command’s proposed new headquarters facility at Robins AFB, Ga., that would replace nine separate buildings covering 377,000 square feet with a single energy-efficient 343,000 square-foot building. The...

Polar Plunge for Life

Two Alaska Air National Guard pararescuemen recently jumped into a remote site160-miles north of the Arctic Circle to rescue a woman in critical need of medical care. An HC-130 rescue refueling aircraft originally set out from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, with...

Kirtland Airman Receives Court-Martial for Sexual Assault

A military judge at Kirtland AFB, N.M., found A1C Corey Hudgins, assigned to the 58th Maintenance Squadron at Kirtland, guilty of sexually assaulting two female airmen on Kirtland, sentencing Hudgins to 11 years confinement, a dishonorable discharge, and reprimand, according...