The head of Air Combat Command said Tuesday that he sees no reason not to declare the first F/A-22 Raptor squadron ready for initial operational capability in December as planned. Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, D.C.,...

Keys also told conferees that Air Combat Command already has transferred some, but not all aircraft from Langley AFB, Va., to inland bases in anticipation of Hurricane Ophelia. When he spoke, the Virginia base was expecting eight to nine inches...

The last of the Global Hawk RQ-4A unmanned aerial vehicles are rolling off the line now, and the B model is a full-production line, Northrop Grumman official Ed Walby told reporters Tuesday at the AFA conference. He had nothing but...

The mission components for the Air Force’s E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft will be undergoing the most significant modifications since the aircraft’s deployment in the 1970s, according to Ed Froese. The Boeing official told reporters Tuesday at...

The director of the Airborne Laser program, USAF Col. John Daniels, said the current plan still calls for ABL to attend its “graduating exercise” in 2008, when it is expected to shoot down a ballistic missile in flight. Speaking Tuesday...

While the Air Force shepherded ABL development, there was talk about potential air-to-air use, but, since moving to MDA, the program has concentrated on missiles, said Daniels. But, he added, “I don’t think that will go away—an airplane is a...

Northrop Grumman attempted to silence the rumblings over its announcement that it would team with EADS to proffer the KC-30—an aircraft based on the EADS Airbus A330—as a KC-135 replacement by pointing out a simple fact: If there is to...

Northrop officials rolled out the numbers Monday, saying that initially about 52 percent of its tanker competitor—the KC-30—would be built in the US. The percentage could go up to perhaps 60 percent as production unfolds. Most of the rest of...

This should not come as a shock, but the Congressional Budget Office says the Pentagon’s plans for unclassified space programs faces potential cost growth problems and schedule slippages. We heard this from Peter Teets, USAF’s former undersecretary, back in the spring. (Read our report here.) CBO, which has just put numbers to paper, per a request from the House Appropriations Committee, estimates that future spending on space programs would peak at $10 billion in 2010. However, CBO cautioned, historically space programs experience a 69 percent cost growth in RDT&E and 19 percent in procurement, so the peak could be $14.4 billion. See the CBO graph here. The good news from CBO about schedule slippages is that they shouldn’t lead to a decline in capability, since most military space systems last much longer than anticipated.

Just let a major newspaper report on a Pentagon document, residing unheralded on the DOD Web site since March, and down it comes. Someone alerted the Washington Post to the existence of the Pentagon’s final draft on its joint nuclear...

Six Air Force Reserve Command airmen on Monday received Distinguished Service Crosses for their actions in landing their C-130 airlifter safely after it was struck by enemy ground fire in Iraq on Oct. 26, 2004. The aircrew from the 440th...

The Air Force is using some of its air traffic controllers in an unusual way—they guide fighters to targets. That’s a job normally handled by USAF terminal attack controllers or air battle managers, but in the southern third of Iraq,...

Pete Geren, the acting Secretary of the Air Force, may be in for an indefinite stint as the top Air Force civilian because the Senate Armed Services Committee appears to be in no great hurry to move along with a...

Adm. William J. Fallon thinks its high time the US military and the Chinese military got together. According to the head of US Pacific Command, the two countries have considerable interaction on political and economic fronts. On a tour of...

Those Colorado Reservists who went off to fight wildfires in Colorado—in their first three days, they flew 14 sorties and dropped 36,500 gallons of fire retardant. The 302nd Airlift Wing, Peterson AFB, Colo., sent two of its specially equipped C-130s...

Officials at Columbus AFB, Miss., must have breathed a sigh of relief that Katrina petered out before reaching the base—bypassing its new state-of-the-art, seven-story tall air traffic control tower. They officially opened the $5.2 million tower last week.

The Air Force extracted more than 1,200 airmen who had been in training at Keesler AFB, Miss., before Katrina struck, transporting them to Sheppard AFB, Tex. Now, the question is: How can they finish their training, some of which is...

When USAF created its air and space expeditionary force (AEF) concept, the premise was that AEFs would head overseas. Hurricane Katrina proved that the AEF can be useful at home, too. At Keesler AFB, Miss., the Air Force has set...

The August enlisted recruiting figures are posted and the Air Force picked up 104 percent of its monthly active duty goal—putting it at 101 percent for the fiscal year, so far. The Army had a good August, but it is...

Air Force Reserve Command needs officers and enlisted airmen for some 1,900 authorized full-time Active Guard and Reserve positions, but the command doesn’t want just anyone. Most of the open AGR slots are in the high-demand fields of combat rescue...

The Pentagon is looking for civilian employees who want to help Katrina victims either by donating unused annual leave or volunteering to work in the cleanup process. The civilians would need to leave their current jobs for 14- to 30-day...

Military members and their families forced to leave their home base can get their prescription refill information transferred from the Gulf Coast to a military treatment facility or a retail pharmacy—no need to see a primary care provider to have...

September 12, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 9 7 – 16 CAS/Armed Recon 49 21 – 70 Airlift – – 155 155 Air refueling – – 32 32 Total 58 28 187 273 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...