The Air Force is seeking $216 million as part of the Administration’s $70 billion defense supplemental request. The service wants to replace three MC-130H Combat Talons that have been “lost during contingencies.” USAF plans to convert three existing C-130Hs into...

The Administration’s 2006 defense supplemental request also includes nearly $15 million to enhance AC-130 gunships and EC-130 Compass Call for the global war on terror. The Air Force plans to add an advanced signal processing system, called Senior Scout, to...

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne on Friday spent some time at the New York Air National Guard’s Hancock Field, near Syracuse. Rep. James Walsh (R-N.Y.) arranged the visit “to ensure the highest-ranking officials within the Air Force recognize the full...

Gen. Bruce Carlson, head of Air Force Materiel Command, wants a program officer who knows what he’s talking about. “I want [the program officer] to have the technical background to be able to answer me instead of finding someone else...

With all the attention focused on Southwest Asia, it is easy to overlook US military operations in Bosnia. The majority of American troops are Army, but USAF still has three airmen living and working at Tuzla AB, Bosnia. Their job...

The Air Force has lauded the 36th Air Expeditionary Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam, with an Outstanding Unit Award. According to Stars and Stripes, the wing commander, Col. Michael Boera, called Andersen’s accomplishments in Fiscal 2005 “unprecendented.” Among the base’s...

One of the initiatives spawned during the tenure of former Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper was to make mobility aircraft even more useful than they are by adding a communications-relay function. Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., has...

The Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah, will see its first new F-22A stealth fighters in April, when the ALC starts upgrading the lighting system for nighttime aerial refueling. The ALC maintainers have been working with a trainer...

Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota is marshalling forces for “a new era of opportunity” for the Red River Valley Research Corridor by hosting an “action summit” on March 22 at the University of North Dakota. The Air National...

Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., is working toward launching a “football field in length,” five-ton space-based radar antenna demonstrator in 2010. The aim of the program is to put antennas in space that can...

That’s how Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld describes the state of US government operations in the 21st century. The substance of his remarks during a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations described the considerable disadvantage facing the US in the...

USAF has a group of three specialists on a petroleum and oil infrastructure team, or POInT, whose mission is to check Iraqi pipelines for leaks and work with Iraqis to secure the pipes. They also check electrical infrastructure to try...

The Pentagon recently released its strategy for fighting the war on terror—The National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism—which it says “reflects the lessons of the first four years” of the war and “maps DOD’s way ahead for...

Foreign militaries don’t just visit USAF units to learn about the combat strike or mobility forces. They even want to see how US airmen manage the stores of parts and equipment needed to keep the combat elements flying. Five members...

February 23, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 4 – 21 CAS/Armed Recon 56 18 – 74 Airlift – – 165 165 Air refueling – – 34 34 Total 70 22 199 291 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...