US Central Command Air Forces officials say two US Air Force personnel assigned to the 586th Expeditionary Mission Support Group have been killed and a third injured on Jan. 22 by an improvised explosive device. They were on convoy escort...

There was a disconnect between the paper mission capable rate and the true MC rate for the B-2 fleet, say Air Combat Command officials. The Fiscal 2005 MC rate was a dismal 30.5 percent, yet the B-2 folks at Whiteman...

Air Mobility Command’s new commander of 18th Air Force, Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins, talked about new “smarter and better” ways to accomplish the mobility mission on a recent visit to Travis AFB, Calif. AMC commander Gen. Duncan McNabb recently...

A KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft from Fairchild AFB, Wash., has been fitted with an upgraded communications system—the latest Roll-on Beyond Line-of-Sight Enhancement, or ROBE Spiral 2. Spiral 2 required 18 months to develop, and it incorporates the latest data forwarding...

The Air Force now has 5+1+1 “Falconer” air and space operations centers up and running. Officials say that the “formula” reflects the nature of the centers—five are operational, one is a training site, and one a technical help center. The...

The folks in the paint shop at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla., latched onto a new workload—painting C-130 airlifters—valued at up to $35 million over the next five years. How? The shop has been developing...

The Defense Science Board’s good rep faces a keen challenge with a 2006 summer study tasking—identify new ways the military can “counter or negate [non-state actor] safe havens and provide more effective capability in the new mission areas [of stability operations and domestic civil support].” There are six other pieces to this tasking, which the Pentagon has called “The 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors.” The tasks range from a review of previous attempts to identify critical technologies covering these missions to identification of “mechanisms to accelerate and assure” technology transition into military capabilities. Whew!

The 8th Security Forces Squadron no longer restricts its law enforcement operations to within the grounds of Kunsan AB, South Korea. By agreement with local authorities, 8th SFS airmen are working off base with members of the Korean National Police...

The Marine Corps version of the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft arrived at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., last week to begin cold weather testing, the Grand Forks Herald reports. The Marines are at the Northern Tier base to field test...

On Another Note About VTOL Aircraft: The Defense Science Board has been working diligently to assess what the military will need in the way of vertical take off and landing (VTOL) and short take off and landing (STOL) aircraft through the first half of the 21st century. A report by this DSB task force is due in June. The tasking memo notes that the lack of investment in rotary wing aircraft “may have produced” aircraft that are “poorly suited” to current and future missions, but it also says their design may be inherently wrong for the “non-linear battlefield.”

The 61st Security Forces Squadron at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., has a new simulation system that can create a wide variety of situations using computerized and video images to provide either a traditional ground war or urban environment. And, it...

The US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, Calif., is kind enough to share some of its mystique with select senior DOD civilian and military leaders—in a short course tailored to meet their “expectations,” says Lt. Col. Dale...

Navy Capt. Curt Goldacker, commander of Training Air Wing One at NAS Meridian, Miss., wants to join forces with the Air Force at Columbus AFB, Miss., to train pilots. According to the Associated Press news service, Goldacker and Columbus officials...

The industry team working the Space Based Infrared System satellite program—despite cutbacks and development of a probable competitor—is taking one step at a time, just completing another phase of its engineering plan—thermal vacuum testing of the payload for the first...

Some 43 airmen of the 939th Air Refueling Wing at Portland, Ore., are the first to complete the Air Force’s readiness safeguard command and control functional training exercise. The five-day course, which took place at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training...

Four key senators have asked the GAO to take a closer look at proposed expenditures to institute the new National Security Personnel System. GAO senior analyst Derek Stewart told Government Executive that “it is rare” for the GAO to get...

Air Force officials at Andersen AFB, Guam, are helping local conservation officials to reintroduce two species of birds, the Guam rail and the Kingfisher, to the base’s national wildlife refuge. At the same time, they are trying to control a...

January 19, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 17 4 – 21 CAS/Armed Recon 50 22 – 72 Airlift – – 170 170 Air refueling – – 36 36 Total 67 26 206 299 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...