Chalk up another first for the new F-22A—operational pilots launching operational air-to-air missiles in a combat-type employment. Pilots of the first operational Raptor unit, the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Va., fired AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles at drones flying...

Outgoing Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Lance Lord said yesterday that there is no truth to rumors that AFSPC will be demoted from a major command or that the commander’s position will be bucked back down to a three-star...

With its first new C-17 awaiting replacement of a backup computer system, the airmen at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, who will operate the new airlifters as part of a joint active-Guard endeavor, flew their first real-world mission with a C-17 from...

The Total Force C-17 team at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, has received the second of its new C-17 airlifters. It was flown to Hawaii from the Boeing production plant in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 21. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports that...

Airmen and marines banded together at the former Clark Air Base in the Philippines to load supplies aboard aircraft to aid survivors of the Feb. 17 massive mudslides that engulfed an entire village on the island of Leyte. More than...

The Air Force plan to create a composite Predator unmanned aerial vehicle force comprising active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command airmen is well on its way. One of the first initiatives was to put AFRC Lt. Col....

New Mexico lawmakers in the past have fought to delay retirement of the 20-year-old F-117 stealth fighters and vowed earlier this month to press the Air Force for answers as to why it must move up the F-117 retirement date....

The Air Force Reserve Command plan to accelerate movement of nine of the AFRC A-10s from New Orleans to Whiteman AFB, Mo., has played havoc with Whiteman’s timetable. The Reservists at the Missouri base are not complaining, but officials told...

Air Force CMSgt. Kenneth J. McQuiston is moving up the street to become the Senior Enlisted Advisor for US Transportation Command, headquartered at Scott AFB, Ill. McQuiston, a 23-year USAF veteran, has been the command chief master sergeant for Air...

The 380th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia (not Iraq or Afghanistan) has been supporting war on terror operations for years. For about the same length of time, Air Force officials have been working to improve living and working conditions,...

USAFE Plans New Training Center: US Air Forces in Europe plans in March to open the new European Transportation Training Center at Spangdahlem AB, Germany. The ETTC is the second such center in the Air Force; the first resides in...

Air Force maintainers at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, like their counterparts at other USAF tanker bases, have the never-ending job of keeping KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft flyable. The ones at Manas are vital to the daily war on terror operations. The...

Boeing and Rockwell Collins recently completed flight-testing components of USAF’s new weapons data link network. The tests proved the ability to transmit messages to and from a weapon using existing Link-16 networks and that the “data link can be sized...

February 21, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 5 – 20 CAS/Armed Recon 36 20 – 56 Airlift – – 160 160 Air refueling – – 31 31 Total 51 25 191 267 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...