F-22A Is Ready for Combat: During a formal presentation to herald initial operational capability for the new F-22A Raptor, Gen. Ronald Keys said, “If we go to war tomorrow, the Raptor will go with us.” The Air Combat Command chief...

According to Air Combat Command, the 27th Fighter Squadron, which has been absent from the Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation as it transitioned to the F-22, will be able to re-join the AEF queue in January 2007. ACC head...

There are 18 F-22As now on duty with the 27th Fighter Squadron, and the unit will have three more by next week. ACC head Gen. Ronald Keys says the unit will reach full squadron strength of 24 airplanes in March,...

Soon after the 27th FS completes its first Northern Edge exercise deployment, Gen. Ronald Keys says he plans to “swing” the squadron through the Pacific theater, because the F-22As will have to clear out of Langley anyway, due to runway...

US Central Air Command Air Forces has placed the USAF radar system that used to reside in Uzbekistan at K2 (we got tossed out of there earlier this year) in Afghanistan to service the airfields at Kabul and Bagram Air...

The crews that fly, operate, and maintain USAF’s E-8C Joint STARS ground surveillance aircraft have reached a milestone 1,000 sorties for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Dec. 4 flight “wasn’t the longest, shortest, busiest, or slowest,” but it marked “another outstanding...

Gen. Ronald Keys, ACC commander, says Air Force leaders will have to “rebalance our portfolio” of fighter and attack aircraft now that the ultimate F-22A buy seems locked in at 183 airplanes. The obvious move is to keep in service...

Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, head of US Strategic Command says there are entities within DOD that “would like to stay in the industrial age, [but] the reality is we are in the information age. And the information age...

Cartwright calls ballistic missile defense the “boutique” area of STRATCOM’s responsibilities. Nonetheless, the STRATCOM boss recognizes he has the lead when it comes to coordinating and developing US missile defense operations. Cartwright says he is keeping tabs on the work...

The Oklahoma Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., has started work on its first service life extension program F110 engine. It’s a $600 million effort that will make F-16 engines “more reliable and easier to maintain,” Col. Henry Gaudreau, commander...

ROVER Is Here to Stay: Lt. Col. Greg Harbin calls the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver—ROVER, for short—the most in-demand hardware in the global war on terror. (It was handy in New Orleans, too.) This is the system, says Harbin,...

Currently, USAF has some 200 ROVER units in the US Central Command area of operations—and demand for the technology continues to grow. However, since the technology utilizes UHF frequencies, bandwidth management has become an issue just as it was with...

The Air Force says that it needs “hundreds” of airmen in almost every major career field to volunteer to serve longer tours in Southwest Asia, filling joint task force positions. It was in February of this year, that USAF officials...

According to Raytheon, producer of the T-1A advanced military trainer, the aircraft has passed the one million flying hour mark in service with the Air Force. USAF uses the Jayhawk to train student pilots to fly airlift and tanker aircraft.

As Gen. Norton Schwartz, head of US Transportation Command, presided over the retirement of Air Force Reserve Command Maj. Gen. James Czekanski, he noted the effort expended by reserve forces: “Well over half—and in some cases, substantially more than half—of...

December 14, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 16 4 – 20 CAS/Armed Recon 60 19 – 79 Airlift – – 155 155 Air refueling – – 36 36 Total 76 23 191 290 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...