Daily Report

Jan. 21, 2014

ICBM Force Retakes Nuclear Proficiency Exam

Nearly all members of the ICBM force have retaken the nuclear proficiency exam, an Air Force Global Strike Command spokeswoman told the Daily Report on Friday. US Strategic Command boss Adm. Cecil Haney ordered the entire ICBM community to retake...

Obama Signs Omnibus into Law

President Obama signed the $1.012 trillion omnibus spending bill into law last week, providing fiscal stability to the Defense Department and other government agencies while mitigating some of sequestration’s devastating impacts—at least for the next two years. Obama said the...

Check Six, America

The US military’s technology advantage is slipping fast in many areas, and forecast research and development budgets hold little hope of restoring it, Pentagon acquisition, technology, and logistics chief Frank Kendall said last week. Speaking at a Center for New...

Timed Out

Military technology is “not a variable cost” and shouldn’t be treated as one, said Pentagon acquisition, technology, and logistics chief Frank Kendall. Research and development “drives the rate of modernization. R&D is really not dependent on the size of the...

Obama Unveils SIGINT Changes

The US government’s collection of bulk telephone metadata will cease “as it currently exists,” President Barack Obama said Friday. Instead, the National Security Agency and intelligence community will establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities needed without the government retaining...

KC-46 Test Birds in Production

Boeing began work on its fourth KC-46A tanker, rounding out the next generation tanker test fleet, at its production facility at Everett, Wash., the company announced. “All four test aircraft are moving through production to support our transition to ground...

A Fatal Mistake

A nonprofit volunteer who was killed last year after falling from an HH-60 helicopter operated by the California Air National Guard accidently clipped the Pavehawk’s winch to a plastic ring rather than his harness, Air Combat Command investigators determined. Shane...

JASSM Takes a Licking and Keeps Ticking

Members of the 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Dyess AFB, Tex., recently carried a JASSM-Extended Range missile for 100 hours to verify the weapon will still hit its target in a future test-shot, even after multiple missions riding in...

Medal of Honor Recipients

Nine Medal of Honor recipients gathered in Charleston, S.C., to watch the first Medal of Honor Bowl— an all-star college senior football game between the American team and the National team that place at The Citadel, according to a release....

F-35 Program Office Clarifies Omnibus Funding

An item in Jan. 16’s Daily Report stated the Air Force was losing two F-35s as part of the Fiscal 2014 omnibus budget. The omnibus cuts two F-35As and one F-35C from advanced procurement funds, which are funds specifically requested...