If you listen carefully to USAF's top enlisted man, the Air Force may now be planning to slash its ranks by another 10,000 personnel, raising the toll from 40,000 to 50,000. The first number was laid down in December by the service’s two top leaders—SECAF Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, the CSAF. They said the 40,000-man cut in active, Guard, Reserve, and civilian members would unfold during the period 2006-11, with reductions averaging about 6,800 per year. (Read the transcript here.) However, CMSAF Gerald Murray, in Miami on a tour of US Southern Command units, told airmen that the Air Force will cut “40,000 to 50,000” personnel. Is this merely an imprecise statement, or have Pentagon officials again whacked the Air Force's budget, forcing an even deeper personnel reduction? No definitive public answer is likely until the budget drops in early February.

CMSAF Gerald Murray told airmen in Honduras during a swing through US Southern Command that they, personally, had little to fear as USAF cuts 40,000 to 50,000 from its rolls. Why? According to Murray, airmen such as those at Soto...

Utah state lawmaker—Republican Rep. LaVar Christensen—wants to rename Hill AFB, Utah, to include the name of former President Ronald Reagan. He would make it: Reagan Hill Air Force Base. In Christensen’s view, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune, there...

The 27th Fighter Squadron of Langley AFB, Va., flew its new F-22A Raptors in the fighter’s first real-world operation but not without help from the tanker guys. The Operation Noble Eagle mission also marked the first operational refueling of the...

Trying an End Run Around the Guard: Maj. Gen. Michael Haugen, the commander of North Dakota’s National Guard, like other Guardsmen, is having trouble rationalizing Pentagon budget woes with the proposed plan to cut the Army Guard and Air Guard....

Fine Detail Work May Benefit Tactical Fight: The scientists at the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., have managed—after five years work—to consistently arrange three circular mirrors to within one one-thousandth of the thickness of a human hair for...

While other news media are reporting what the Quadrennial Defense Review will contain, Mark Mazzetti of the Los Angeles Times has taken note of one thing it does not consider: another Iraq. In fact, a Pentagon official told Mazzetti that...

The 34 airmen assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron’s explosive ordnance disposal teams in Iraq have covered more than 900 incidents since September 2005. In that time, the EOD airmen disposed of approximately 57,000 explosive items, which add...

A portrait exhibition of more than 1,300 servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan has been extended until March 31, 2006, at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va. Since opening in March 2005, “Faces of the...

The Air Force tapped Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga., to lead a tiger team to discover why missile warning systems failed to function on several aircraft under fire near Baghdad in 2003 and 2004. Working with the...

The Air Force Real Property Agency is working to convert underutilized land and infrastructure into value for the Air Force at installations across the country using the enhanced use leasing program. This is the program already used at Kirtland AFB,...

According to Air Force Magazine contributing editor Tom Philpott, combat-zone tax exclusions, Earned Income Tax Credit changes, and child tax credits that took effect in 2005 have softened the tax liability for the military. And, for troops in combat areas,...

In a new review of the nation’s ballistic missile defense program, Congressional Research Service analysts say the data on flight test efforts to develop a national missile defense system is “mixed and ambiguous.” There is no conclusive evidence of a...

NASA got its Pluto spacecraft off—after weather and technical delays—from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., with the help of Air Force Space Command’s 45th Space Wing. The wing assisted Lockheed Martin with launch of the company’s Atlas V on Jan. 19....

January 23, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 10 5 – 15 CAS/Armed Recon 32 19 – 51 Airlift – – 170 170 Air refueling – – 27 27 Total 42 24 197 263 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...