Air Force and industry officials challenged those within the Pentagon who would seek to cut the numbers of F/A-22 Raptors. At several venues at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, officials maintained the new stealthy fighter is crucial to continued US...

The Air Force’s new air superiority fighter has 2,592 test flight hours in the bag and recently completed avionics engineering manufacturing development testing, so testers at Edwards AFB, Calif., say the F/A-22 is ready for follow-on operational test and evaluation....

Delivery of the BRAC commission’s final report should have closed the door on the base closure saga, right? Wrong. It would appear that even the commissioners were uncertain what they had done. They let more than two weeks pass before...

BRAC commissioner Samuel Skinner told a Michigan television station that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has the authority to move the 24 A-10 Warthogs destined for Selfridge Air National Guard Base under commission recommendations. She can, if she wants, leave them at...

Making good on a pledge made earlier this year, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), House Armed Services Committee chairman, on Wednesday kicked off planning for a committee version of the Quadrennial Defense Review. Panel spokesman Josh Holly said committee members gathered...

Keesler AFB, Miss., which took heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina, is making huge strides in getting back on its feet, Gen. William Looney, head of Air Education and Training Command, tells Air Force Magazine’s John Tirpak. In fact, the base...

Nearly 400 students will be back at Keesler Friday to continue or complete their training. The first classes back in business will be those in “critical skills,” Looney says, such as “pararescue, boom operators, enlisted flying AFSCs.” The challenge for...

Boeing officials cast doubt on the future of the production line for USAF’s C-17 cargo aircraft during this week’s AFA Air & Space Conference, saying the company will begin in January shutting down the line for the aircraft if there...

Boeing is hot to unveil its plan for a new tanker replacement aircraft, particularly since Northrop Grumman has announced its offering—an Airbus A330 knockoff. (DR, 09/08/05) Speaking at the AFA conference Tuesday, Boeing’s George Muellner said the Global Tanker Team...

If the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is going to make low-rate initial production on time, says Lockheed Martin’s Dan Crowley, Congress must approve long-lead LRIP funding for 2006. Discussing the JSF program at the AFA conference Tuesday, Crowley said the...

The Predator MQ-1B has been busy, according to the Air Force. How busy? Airmen operating the unmanned aerial vehicle have logged,in the past year, an unprecedented 27,000 hours supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Members of the 15th Reconnaissance Squadron,...

The Fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill probably won’t show on the Senate horizon until after President Bush turns over the BRAC commission report. He has until Sept. 23 to get it to Capitol Hill. Thus, there is plenty of time...

The plan to merge the two launch services of Lockheed Martin and Boeing may have hit a snag. Although the Air Force initially signaled its approval, expecting to reap savings in launching national security payloads, service officials have joined with...

The Air Force is pursuing the next generation Global Positioning System in two phases, according to Space and Missile Systems Center. One phase for the new GPS Block III satellite and one for a new control segment—dubbed OCX—that will be...

Air Mobility Command officials Tuesday awarded $2.2 billion in airlift contracts for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which lines up commercial airlines to supplement Air Force airlift, principally during emergencies. Awards went to Alliance Contractor Team, with an estimated...

Technicians with Lockheed Martin’s C-5 Galaxy modernization program recently installed the first engine pylon on a test airframe. The Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program is the second phase of a modernization program that will produce more than 70 improvements to...

Speaking during a visit to Germany for a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged NATO countries to continue backing up and expanding their presence in Afghanistan. NATO troops have taken over security in northern and western...

September 13, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 11 8 – 19 CAS/Armed Recon 48 21 – 69 Airlift – – 170 170 Air refueling – – 36 36 Total 59 29 206 294 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...