DOD’s new unmanned aircraft system strategy paper (DR, 08/12/05) contains a surprise—the US may be flying unmanned “counterair” missions as early as 2020. The study contains a graph (p. 74) showing UASes starting to do the work of F-15s, F-16s,...

The UAS study foresees unmanned aircraft flying “counter-air operations similar to [Operations] Deny Flight, Northern [Watch], and Southern Watch,” all long-running air exclusion operations in the 1990s. These, said the study, “may quite conceivably be supported by crews, operational staffs,...

Driving the Pentagon’s BRAC proposals to eliminate a number of Air National Guard flying units around the country is one basic fact: Budget cuts and aging aircraft mean there will be fewer airframes overall in years ahead. In the past,...

The Air Force officially announced that Gen. John Jumper’s retirement ceremony will take place on Sept. 2 at Andrews AFB, Md. The Chief of Staff will cede USAF’s top uniformed spot to Gen. T. Michael Moseley, currently the Vice Chief.

New Mexico Wants F-35 FightersNew Mexico Wants F-35 FightersNew Mexico Wants F-35 FightersNew Mexico Wants F-35 FightersWere the Pentagon to base the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Cannon AFB, N.M., instead of Eglin AFB, Fla., taxpayers would save at least...

We have the memo (mentioned in our Friday column) that South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune wrote to the BRAC commission. In it, he says the Air Force misinformed the commission about the potential impact of litigation over the bomber...

Units from the Royal Saudi Air Force’s 92nd Squadron are flying combat training missions over Nellis, AFB, Nev., says the Air Force. A half-dozen F-15S fighters flew from Saudi Arabia to Nevada on Aug. 6. RSAF pilots hadn’t been to...

Although the Pentagon did not propose closing Eielson AFB, Alaska, it does want to remove the active units, thereby saving some $229 million a year. Whoa, says Alaskan officials, including the state’s Adjutant General. In a letter to BRAC commissioners,...

Should the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton consolidate with its Navy counterpart in Monterey? The BRAC Commission raised that question. The answer is “No,” says outgoing Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Gregory Martin. He told Timothy Gaffney...

Lt. Gen. John “Jack” Hudson, a former director of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, on Monday took command of Air Force Materiel Command’s Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. As ASC commander, Hudson is USAF’s Program Executive Officer...

Air Force weapons specialists at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, got to work up close and personal with one of the new premier precision strike munitions—the Small Diameter Bomb. Airmen of the 366th Maintenance Group recently practiced maintaining and loading the...

Little known fact: airlifting the shuttle from California to Florida on top of a Boeing 747 is no cakewalk. For one, it requires constant weather data updated as the flight crew maneuvers around precipitation and high winds. Providing that service...

On Saturday, USAF F-16s flew a pre-planned strike against an insurgent staging area in the vicinity of Baquba, Iraq—expending one GBU-38 and destroying the position. On Sunday, USAF A-10s performed air strikes against anti-coalition militia in the vicinity of Asadabad,...

August 12-14, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 29 13 – 42 CAS/Armed Recon 114 65 – 179 Airlift – – 430 430 Air refueling – – 91 91 Total 143 78 521 742 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...