Daily Report

Jan. 28, 2010

Same Stuff, Different Day

As has been the practice the past several years, the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2011 budget proposal, which is due to Congress next week, is expected to include no funds to buy more C-17 transports or continue work on the F136 engine...

What to Expect

Unlike last April’s so-called “Black Monday,” when Defense Secretary Robert Gates presented a list of major program cancellations as part of the Obama Administration’s Fiscal 2010 budget proposal, next week’s submission of the 2011 spending plan to Congress will likely...

QDR Outlook

It remains to be seen whether the forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, anticipated for release on Feb. 1 in conjunction with the President’s Fiscal 2011 budget, will provide a clearer defense strategy, Jim Thomas, vice president of strategic studies at the...

Predators over Haiti

The Air Force has deployed several unarmed MQ-1 Predator remotely piloted aircraft, along with a group of operators and maintainers, to Haiti as part of its contribution to the international relief mission there. These assets will provide streaming overhead video...

Back to Old Tenure Limits

Air Force officials announced on Wednesday that enlisted high year of tenure limits—the maximum years of service that an airman may remain on active duty in relation to his enlisted grade—are returning to their pre-2003 levels. This change, reflecting USAF’s...

Fresh from Lackland

Earlier this month, the Air Force took another big step in institutionalizing its new enlisted career field for airmen who operate sensors on remotely piloted aircraft by accepting, for the first time ever, students directly from basic military training into...

All-weather Home

Officials with the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., earlier this month held a ceremony marking the opening of a new, two-bay C-17 hangar on the base. Known as Building 837, the 105-foot-tall, 102,000-square-foot facility is one of...

Ever Vigilant

The Air Force is celebrating this month the 35th anniversary of the first E-4 National Airborne Operations Center aircraft going on alert. Today the Air Force operates four E-4Bs that are assigned to the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB, Neb....

Strike Eagle Crewman Hits Milestone

Lt. Col. John Bunnell, an F-15E weapon system officer, on Jan. 24 reached his 3,000th flight hour in the backseat of a Strike Eagle during a four-hour mission from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. “This is a nice milestone for me,” said...

Air Sorties from SWA 012810

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Jan. 24, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 30 30 60 1,388 CAS/Armed Recon 18 65 83 2,228 Airlift 165 165 3,771 Air refueling 45 45 1,037 Total 353 8,424 OIF=Operation Iraqi...