Jumper Sees Iraqi Need for US Airpower: Gen. John P. Jumper predicts that Iraq will need on-call US airpower longer than it will need US ground forces. The Chief of Staff, who retires Sept. 2, told reporters Iraqi forces will...

If Jumper is correct, then there are implications for USAF battlefield airmen, those specialized airmen who travel with the ground forces to coordinate the delivery of airpower. If US aircraft stay, they stay. An Air Force news release on Monday...

How did ANG's mobility bases come out in the BRAC review? Our handy box score (click box at left) tells you what happened. ANG had 47 mobility bases—sites with either KC-135 tankers or C-130 airlifters and variants. The BRAC panel agreed with DOD that 11 of these bases should be stripped of aircraft. In another 16 cases, DOD and the panel again agreed on the specific number of aircraft that would remain. The remaining 20 cases generated some mostly minor disagreements; the panel added and subtracted a few aircraft here and there. In only five cases did the panel stop DOD from eliminating a flying mission. BRAC brought salvation to Birmingham Airport, Ala.; New Castle Co. Airport, Del.; McGuire AFB, N.J.; Reno-Tahoe Airport, Nev.; and Yeager Airport, W.Va.

Paul McHale, the Pentagon point man for Homeland Defense, said Tuesday in Washington that Noble Eagle combat air patrols are still necessary even in the now unlikely event that terrorists could take control of a civilian aircraft and turn it...

A few weeks ago, some news media reports proclaimed that the Department of Homeland Security would be given the authority to order shoot downs of aircraft intended as terrorist weapons. McHale put that notion to rest Tuesday, saying, basically, “it...

B-1B bombers from Ellsworth AFB, S.D.,—the base that narrowly escaped the BRAC ax—Monday began replacing B-2 Spirits at Andersen AB, Guam. The 120-day tour for the B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman AFB, Mo., ended. Stateside bomber units have been staging out of Andersen to help maintain a strong US presence in the Pacific. Read here about USAF’s plan for a new strike force on Guam and here for the big picture on the Pacific region.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) announced Monday that Connecticut is taking the Pentagon and the BRAC commission to court over the decision to remove the A-10 aircraft from the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Fighter Wing. Although the Bradley Airport...

Has Moseley Launched a Peace Offensive?: Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday renewed his promise to keep the A-10s of the Pennsylvania ANG’s 111th Fighter Wing at their NAS Willow Grove home. Rendell is putting a lot of stock in...

Have you noticed the lack of official Pentagon comment on the BRAC commission final recommendations last week? The jury must still be out in DOD minds. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said Monday that he has yet to decide whether he will...

USAF bases—active and reserve—from the Florida panhandle to New Orleans worked to brace up their facilities to meet the emergency of Hurricane Katrina, the killer storm with 140+ mph winds coming ashore. Aircraft were moved to other locations and stop...

National Guard Bureau Chief Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum praised the efforts of thousands of Army and Air National Guard troops pressed into service in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and other states as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Blum said...

Ten years ago this week, the US and NATO allies launched Deliberate Force, a significant airpower assault on renegade Bosnian Serbs who were running amok, killing Muslims in the Yugoslav rump state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The three-week air campaign, shaped and...

The sale of conventional military weapons across the world was nearly $37 billion in 2004—about $8 billion higher than the previous year, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. The US share was about 34 percent, less than in...

The Pentagon said earlier this year that it would try to recruit more Hispanics, who are under-represented, based on their overall numbers in the country. Sounds like a fair plan, right? Not to a group of antiwar activists in Los...

To the Joint Strike Fighter engine team at Pratt & Whitney, it is a little more complicated, even though they have some 7,000 hours of development testing on the F135 engine behind them. The team has begun assembling the first...

The Ogden Air Logistics Center maintenance personnel at Hill AFB, Utah, racked up an impressive milestone this summer—completing 365 days without a single late aircraft turnaround. That’s all aircraft. If you count only A-10s, the no-late-aircraft achievement stands at two...

Japan and the US are considering constructing a floating runway off Japan to alleviate concerns over noise pollution generated by night practice of US Navy airplanes, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. The runway would be about 2.5 miles from Iwakune...

USAF F-16s performed a strike against an anti-Iraqi forces meeting place in the vicinity of Al Qaim, Iraq, on Aug. 29—deploying two GBU-38s and destroying the building. Other F-16s provided close air support to coalition ground troops in the area...

August 29, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 8 4 – 12 CAS/Armed Recon 55 20 – 75 Airlift – – 160 160 Air refueling – – 40 40 Total 63 24 200 287 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...