Daily Report

The Air Force’s KC-X tanker program will be thrown back open for competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, with DOD soon to have revised bids in hand. Pentagon officials hope to have a winner by year’s end, Defense Secretary Robert...

Once the source selection is made on the next go-round for the KC-X tanker program (see above), the Air Force will resume the lead role in executing the program, said Pentagon acquisition chief John Young, who has been tapped by...

Neither the ongoing airliner trade dispute with Europe nor industrial base concerns will be factors in the revised requests for proposals on the KC-X tanker, Pentagon officials said yesterday (see above). Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at a press...

Boeing said in a statement yesterday it welcomed the news from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition is being reopened to revised bids (see above). “However, we remain concerned that a renewed request for proposals...

Two F-16s from the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw AFB, S.C., last week flew the milestone 50,000th sortie for the Continental US NORAD Region portion of Operation Noble Eagle. CONR and 1st Air Force boss Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow called...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters during a visit to Air Force and Army units in Washington State that he has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to help cover operations in Afghanistan, where anti-Afghan government attacks have increased,...

Air support to US and NATO ground forces in Afghanistan continues at a heightened pace (see above). During action July 7, a USAF B-1B bomber dropped 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions on enemy forces near Bermel, and, in the same...

The Air Force should reexamine its plans to consolidate its test and evaluation infrastructure because some of the proposed changes would shutter facilities with unique capabilities, causing the service to sacrifice “high-quality” T&E functions and place strains on the remaining...

Football fan CMSAF Rodney McKinley uses a football analogy, specifically the need for performing the basics of blocking and tackling well to highlight a leadership message in his latest “The Enlisted Perspective.” In his words, “At [basic military training] and...

As the Air Force develops its own cyber warfare capabilities, the Army is also moving forward in this realm, standing up its first network warfare battalion on a provisional basis on July 2, according to a release from the land...

The remaining 37 airmen from Yokota AB, Japan, who had deployed to Utapao, Thailand, to support the delivery of relief supplies into Myanmar, have returned to their home base. Yokota C-130 transports from the 374 Airlift Wing, operating from Utapao,...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJuly 7, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 26 14 39 5,801 CAS/Armed Recon 47 52 99 17,150 Airlift 129 129 23,751 Air refueling 58 58 8,156 Total 325 54,858...