The Pentagon said that Air Force civilian employee Daniel J. Kuhlmeier, 30, of Omaha, Neb., was killed on Feb. 20 when an improvised explosive device struck the convoy in which he was riding in Baghdad. Kuhlmeier was a member of...

Lockheed Martin has completed assembly of the first production F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and, on Feb. 19, moved it out of the factory in Fort Worth, Tex., to tank it up on fuel. The first F-35 off the assembly line...

Ten Democratic Senators led by Presidential-hopeful Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts penned a letter to leaders of the Senate Budget Committee to protest the 2.2 percent military pay raise included in President Bush’s 2007 defense budget proposal. They say it is the smallest since 1994. They wrote: “Such a paltry increase neglects the value of their service and the very real challenges of recruiting and retaining an all-volunteer military in time of war.”

In a conference call with reporters today, Gen. Lance Lord, soon-to-be-retired head of Air Force Space Command, said the decision to cut the nuclear missile force by 10 percent was made by US Strategic Command. He said that AFSPC, which...

Northrop Grumman has just received a new contract from DARPA to continue developing a means to accurately determine structural failures in advance. The effort—called Structural Integrity Prognosis System, or SIPS—has been underway for two years and last summer provided its...

Air Education and Training Command is bringing together the enlisted ground schools from seven aircrew specialties to form a mega Career Enlisted Aircrew Center of Excellence at Lackland AFB, Tex. AETC plans to move the first school—ground training for enlisted airborne battle managers—in time to start its first class at Lackland on April 11. In all, Lackland will gain about 40 instructors. Officials told the Lackland Talespinner that they expect the consolidation to streamline training, since each includes some common material, and reduce travel expenses.

Prototype UAV Returns From War: Global Hawk UAV No. 3, a pre-production model, has returned to Edwards AFB, Calif., after spending three years overseas supporting the war on terror. It touched down at Edwards on Feb. 20 and was treated...

US Pacific Command activated the airmen of the 36th Contingency Response Group from Andersen AFB, Guam, sending them to the area hit by the Feb. 17 mudslides to assess the situation for air support. The airmen, who were in the...

Pacific Air Forces had to scrub plans to use the first C-17 stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to ferry relief supplies late on Feb. 19 to the Philippines when the brand new airlifter developed a “minor” malfunction, officials told the...

Space Boss Receives Sword: The enlisted personnel of Air Force Space Command recently entered Gen. Lance W. Lord into the select company of the Order of the Sword. Lord, who is AFSPC commander, announced in December that he would retire...

The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $148 million contract to start work on the fourth Wideband Gapfiller Satellite, known as WGS F4. The company already is working on the first three WGS satellites. USAF expects the system to bridge...

Lt. Gen. Gary L. North is the new commander of 9th Air Force and US Central Command Air Forces, headquartered at Shaw AFB, S.C. In a ceremony last week, North replaced Lt. Gen. Walter E. Buchanan III, who officially retires...

New Jersey ANG Deploys to SWA: About 150 Air Guardsmen from New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing deployed Feb. 19 for Southwest Asia, joining some 50 fellow 177th airmen already in SWA. This deployment marks a repeat visit—more than one—for many...

VA Secretary James Nicholson assured lawmakers that his agency has done its homework this year—there will be no shortfall as there was with the 2006 budget request. Questioned as to his level of confidence in the 2007 budget projections, Nicholson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last week, “We’re very confident.” He explained that the agency had gone “back to the model” it had used for years, but it also had “applied some Kentucky windage to it” because it doesn’t cover all VA activities. (Check here for background on the shortfall.)

The Air Force has 20 Fighter Aircraft Command and Control Enhancement pods, which enable pilots flying in mountainous terrain like Afghanistan to maintain radio contact. It has 16 of the FACE pods at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, and two have been...

Two US Air Forces in Europe bases recently highlighted the success of shifting dining operations to the private sector. Both Incirlik AB, Turkey, and Lajes Field, Azores, had clubs with dining operations running consistently in the red. Officials say the...

February 17-20, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 51 15 – 66 CAS/Armed Recon 154 70 – 224 Airlift – – 720 720 Air refueling – – 114 114 Total 205 85 834 1,124 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...