Daily Report

The airborne laser test bed will make its next attempt to shoot down a boosting ballistic missile late Tuesday night (Pacific Time) off the coast of California, Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, Missile Defense Agency director, said Tuesday. Back in...

The Air Force announced Monday that it is mulling the creation of a training campus at Hurlburt Field, Fla., that would bring together its command and control instruction. “Consolidating training in one location will leverage cross-functional expertise and provide a...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he will step down from his post next year. “I think sometime in 2011 sounds pretty good,” Gates told Foreign Policy in an interview published Monday. His move could come as early as January 2011...

Despite “modest improvements” in transparency over the past year, “many uncertainties” remain about how China intends use its expanding military capabilities, states the Defense Department’s 2010 annual report to Congress on the Chinese military. The Asian giant continues its military...

Air Force Global Strike Command, headquartered at Barksdale AFB, La., earlier this month celebrated its first birthday. “Let me just state it clearly up front: any success we have had so far helping to reinvigorate the nuclear enterprise is due...

More than 250 airmen and a contingent of F-16s from Aviano AB, Italy, have just completed a two-week stint at Kallax AB, Sweden, where they trained with Swedish airmen and Gripen fighters. During the deployment, members of Aviano’s 555th Fighter...

The Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., is looking to industry for ways to detect and defeat person-borne improvised explosive devices, more commonly known as suicide bombers. According to a solicitation issued Monday, center officials seek a sensor-based system...

Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., tops the newly announced list of 2010 selectees for the Air Commando Hall of Fame. Also on the list are (all retired): Col. Richard Brauer,...

The Air Force has transferred the largest portion yet of the former McClellan Air Force Base to Sacramento County, Calif., for private development. The 560-acre parcel included a variety of industrial facilities, office buildings, a hotel, and housing, according to...

The sophisticated electro-optical targeting system under development for the F-35 strike fighter has made its first flight aboard a surrogate test aircraft, Lockheed Martin announced Monday. EOTS, as the passive sensor system is known, flew on the F-35’s cooperative avionics...

Lockheed Martin announced Monday that Oman has signed a contract for the purchase of two additional C-130J transports. Oman ordered its first C-130J in July 2009; that airframe is scheduled for delivery in 2012. Lockheed expects to deliver the two additional aircraft in late 2013 and early 2014. "The C-130J is ideally suited to the operating conditions found in Oman and other areas of the Gulf," said Jim Grant, Lockheed's vice president for air mobility and special operations forces programs. While Oman's first C-130J is in the so-called “stretch” or long-fuselage configuration, the two in the follow-on order are the shorter fuselage variant. Oman already operates three C-130Hs purchased in the early 1980s.

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, August 10, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 25 67 92 15,562 CAS/Armed Recon 18 77 95 21,138 Airlift 199 199 38,551 Air refueling 47 47 10,275 Rescue 35 35 4,733 Total...