Cope India 2006, the major exercise being staged in India by USAF and the Indian Air Force, is getting interesting. For the first time, USAF fighter pilots have gone up against India’s newest and most advanced aircraft—the Russia-designed Su-30 MKI....

Cope India is taking place in the face of a massive protest by communists opposed to New Delhi’s cooperation with USAF. Some 70,000 activists gathered to protest the Cope India maneuvers at the IAF’s Kalaikunda Air Base. Workers affiliated with...

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a defense think tank, held a Capitol Hill seminar on Nov. 10 (DR, 11/11/05). One glow-in-the dark CSBA recommendation was that the Air Force should reduce spending on fighters in favor of other...

Without doubt, there is strong Senate support for continued C-17 production. The vote on a plan to authorize the purchase of 42 more airlifters (DR, 11/11/05) passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin—89 senators voted “yea.” Did you notice, though, who...

Here’s what McCain said on the Senate floor: “I oppose the amendment. There has been a mobility capabilities study, which indicates that we have an acceptable number for this capability. We are looking at cuts in defense spending, and there...

USAF’s Second Air Force has a new commander. He is Maj. Gen. Michael Gould, a fighter pilot who assumed command last week. Headquartered at Keesler AFB, Miss., 2nd AF is the service’s second-largest command, managing much of USAF’s extensive training...

Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita thinks we've got it all wrong about Gordon England's latest budget memo. As we noted earlier (DR 11/07/05), the Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense on Oct. 19 signed out a note to the armed services, directing them to deliver proposals to cut their budgets. The overall target was $32 billion across 2007-11. At a press briefing last week, though, DiRita said, "I think what the intent of the deputy's memo was is to ... give people a clear understanding of how they need to prioritize as we get close to the end of developing the '07 program. So I don't think it's a question of shortages as much as to tell us where the real priorities are." He added, "In many cases, we're not talking about cuts, we're talking about reductions in planned increases, and so let's be clear about that." Thanks.

Ever since the England memo (see above) hit the services in mid-October, many have speculated how the Air Force would respond. Some thought USAF might choose to kill off an expensive space program or two. Others thought further cuts to...

American military forces are about to lose a special tax break. As of 2006, says US European Command, US troops stationed in Turkey no longer will be exempt from paying federal taxes. The Pentagon stations nearly 2,000 troops there, including...

General Smith Goes to Norfolk: USAF Gen. Lance L. Smith, a top fighter pilot who flew combat missions in Vietnam and Iraq, has assumed command of US Joint Forces Command and NATO’s Allied Command-Transformation, both headquartered in Norfolk, Va. (DR,...

The Department of Defense, with the largest computer network in the world, faces an accelerating arms race with malicious computer hackers, says Army Col. Carl W. Hunt. Hunt, speaking to reporters, said cyberwar has already threatened the security of DOD...

Now, there can be no doubt that China’s Air Force is on the way up. Xinhua news agency quotes military sources as saying that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force—which is what Beijing calls its air arm—has chosen...

The Arab News, which bills itself as “the Middle East’s Leading English Language Daily,” had an intriguing story last week from reporter P.K. Abdul Ghafour. Filing from Jeddah, Ghafour wrote that Saudi Minister of Defense (and new Crown Prince) Sultan...

Faced with a revolt in Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs canceled a year-long review of its $4.3 billion-a-year Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder claims. The probe, when it began, was seeking fraudulent claims. In a statement released last week, though, VA...

What Did Levin Really Mean Everybody knows that Saddam’s Iraq never possessed any nuclear weapons, right? Well, probably, but Sen. Carl Levin, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a strange thing the other night. (Props to Stephen...

DOD last week put out data on its recruiting and retention figures for the month of October, covering the active, Guard, and Reserve components of all services. In the active forces, all four services exceeded their recruiting goals. Ditto for...

Quick, which national air force killed 35 fighter pilots and yet never technically scored a single “victory”? The answer is the Albanian Air Force, which lost 35 of its own fliers in accidents but never fired a shot in anger....

November 10, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 8 3 – 11 CAS/Armed Recon 57 18 – 75 Airlift – – 165 165 Air refueling – – 38 38 Total 65 21 203 289 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...