Daily Report

A B-52H bomber crashed earlier today (approximately 9:45 a.m. local time) off the northwest coast of Guam, the Air Force said in a statement. Emergency responders were on the scene working to locate the six crewmembers on board, USAF said....

Capt. Brian Erickson, an A-10 pilot with the 75th Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga., received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor on July 11. He earned the honor for providing close air support under hazardous conditions—working without a forward...

TSgt. Jackie L. Larsen, 37, of Tacoma, Wash., died of natural causes July 17 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, the Air Force said in a release. She was deployed from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif. No additional...

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), a founder of the Congressional Air Force Caucus in 1998 and still a member, thinks Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ stated reasons for sacking Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley as Air Force Secretary and Chief of Staff, respectively, “do not necessarily match up with reality.” In a July 16 floor speech praising Wynne and Moseley for their accomplishments, Stearns says “perhaps the real reason” was over “disagreements on the strategic defense” of the nation and not because of unsatisfactory nuclear weapons stewardship, as Gates has contended. (Note: Wynne basically acknowledged what Stearns is saying during his final meeting with reporters June 20.) “We had a clash of philosophies here,” said Stearns. Wynne and Moseley were not content “with simply toeing the line for today,” but were instead “pushing hard” to prepare for tomorrow’s potential conflicts, a “sacred duty” of military leadership, which Gates, however, has “disparagingly” referred to as “next-war-itis,” Stearns said. Decapitating USAF’s leadership over this was “simply irresponsible and sets a disastrous precedent,” he said. Wynne and Moseley are owed “a debt of gratitude” for all they did to help win today’s fight and posture the nation for the future. And many of the mistakes for which they were blamed, “can be laid squarely at the feet of the Pentagon leadership,” Stearns said. He also called for Gates to make public the report by Adm. Kirkland Donald into the errant shipment of Minuteman III components to Taiwan in 2006. Gates used the purportedly damning revelations in this classified report as the justification for firing Wynne and Moseley.

The Air Force took a beating on the front page of the Washington Post on July 18, when that newspaper faulted the service for trying to spend anti-terrorism funds to buy plush travel amenities for brass traveling aboard military aircraft....

Air Force officials don’t think the comfort-pallet story (see above) threatens the nomination of Gen. Norton Schwartz to be Chief of Staff. Although Schwartz is head of US Transportation Command, USAF’s Air Mobility Command is the executive agent for VIP...

For the first time, an F-22 flying at supersonic speed released a small diameter bomb during a test July 11 at Edwards AFB, Calif. The safe-separation test was part of the ongoing activities of Edwards’ 411th Flight Test Squadron to...

Paperwork was the culprit in delaying the senior-level Pentagon review of the Air Force’s C-130 avionics modernization program last month. “The June [defense acquisition board meeting] was based on a very aggressive schedule,” USAF spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Platt tells...

The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin $119 million to procure the long-lead-time parts and materials for the fourth advanced extremely high frequency communications satellite, the Department of Defense announced July 17. The Air Force intends to put down the...

The Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing at March ARB, Calif., will soon host a fully accredited maintenance training schoolhouse for the MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. Under a memorandum of agreement between the ANG and Air Education and Training...

US and coalition strike aircraft carried out 70 close air support missions in Afghanistan and 56 in Iraq on July 17, with Air Force A-10s, B-1Bs, and F-15Es leading the way, based on Air Forces Central’s summary of air activities for that day. In Afghanistan, B-1Bs were active near Nangalam and Shindad, attacking enemy positions with 500-pound and 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions. Also near Nangalam, A-10s hit enemy positions with general-purpose 500-pound bombs and strafed them with cannon rounds and rockets. F-15Es were also engaged enemy combatants near Nangalam, pounding them with 2,000-pound JDAMs.

More than 400 members of the US, British, and Canadian militaries are testing new combat identification technologies and procedures for coalition units at the US Joint Forces Command-sponsored Bold Quest Plus demonstration that runs through July 25 at Eglin AFB,...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJuly 16-17, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 51 27 78 6,197 CAS/Armed Recon 98 112 210 18,261 Airlift 292 292 25,155 Air refueling 123 123 8,757 Total 703 58,370...