Lockheed Martin on Wednesday showed off its new virtual training system for Joint Strike Fighter test pilots. The company expects to field the system in February. The preview offered a look at tomorrow’s state-of-the-art technology—offering a more-comprehensive approach to warfighter...

Lt. Gen. John F. Regni is headed to the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., where, as superintendent, he will be expected to help turn around a school with more than its share of problems recently. If confirmed...

Now that Hurricane Katrina has passed northward, the Air Force has only lifted its travel ban on Tyndall AFB, Fla. The one for Keesler AFB, Miss., remained in effect late Tuesday.

According to base officials, Hurricane Katrina took a big bite out of Keesler, USAF’s major technical training facility near Biloxi, Miss. Water surged over the base, sometimes at depths of up to six feet, nearly destroying many base houses and...

USAF After the Hurricane: The list of active and reserve military support being provided for post-Katrina work is extensive. Among Air Force elements participating are: helicopters from Air Force Special Operations Commands’ 347th Rescue Wing, Moody AFB, Ga., and Air...

USAF F-16s on Aug. 30 struck an anti-Iraqi forces meeting place in the vicinity of Al Qa’im, in northwest Iraq near the border with Syria. The fighters fired one GBU-38, destroying the building. It was the second time, coalition forces...

Northrop Grumman is about to complete construction of the next-generation Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. The company said it received the last of two critical airframe components—a graphite-composite wing assembly and the first set of its vertical tails—keeping the program...

Nine members at Air Armament Center, Eglin AFB, Fla., joined forces last year, according to one team member, “to greatly improve the lethality and effectiveness” of the AC-130 gunship—and they did it six months ahead of schedule. They must have...

Could it be that Washington has the wrong idea on military spending? The assumption seems to be that the country wants cuts. According to a Gallup commentary released Tuesday, however, there is not “a great deal of pressure from the...

When you consider that the pilots that will fly the F-35 operationally “are 10 years old today,” said JoAnne Puglisi, team leader for JSF training systems, the project is extremely challenging. The increasingly fast pace of technology change, coupled with...

US industry maintains some 86 percent of America’s critical defense infrastructure. (The rest is government-owned.) To make certain defense companies secure that industrial base, as charged by President Bush, the Pentagon is conducting assessments to find where security needs beefing...

Four small aircraft came under scrutiny of USAF F-16s patrolling the restricted air space around Air Force One during President Bush’s southern California visit on Monday. All were flown by private pilots, who later said they were unaware of flight...

Next—The Electro BUFF It seems there is no end to the versatility of the B-52 bomber. Will it become a stand-off jammer? Boeing company officials publicly launched a campaign Tuesday to get the contract for the new Buff SOJ team...

Several hundred airmen at opposite ends of the country deploy to Southwest Asia for USAF’s Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF) 7 and 8. Base officials say that about 700 airmen—some on their second or third time in three years—will...

The increase for the Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance that Congress legislated earlier this year is set to start Thursday. The new maximum is $400,000. It goes into effect automatically, unless a service member declines or elects to reduce the coverage...

The government has launched a 10-year, $500 million project to overhaul the aircraft maintenance and repair operations at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB. Okla. The first step focused on the F100 engine group. The first of its...

For more than 500 days, the crews of the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., have flown their EC-130H Compass Call aircraft jamming enemy communications in Afghanistan. The 41st and its sister unit, the 43rd ECS, which supports operations...

August 30, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 7 5 – 12 CAS/Armed Recon 50 24 – 74 Airlift – – 175 175 Air refueling – – 38 38 Total 57 29 213 299 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...