The head of US Transportation Command, USAF Gen. Norton Schwartz, now says that he could use more C-17 airlifters. Schwartz late last year defended DOD’s decision to halt production at 180 C-17s, saying he thought that would provde sufficient if...

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scratching their heads over the Air Force’s 2007 unfunded priority list which includes a request for seven additional C-17 airlifters. At a Wednesday House hearing on the budget, Air Force Secretary Michael...

The Air Force explanation left many Congressmen still in the dark. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), for one, said that “five minutes” was not enough time to have a “real discussion” on this issue. Whereupon Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), House Armed...

At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) also tackled the question of how many C-17s the nation needs, stating flatly the decision to stop C-17 production at 180 “is wrong.” Inhofe took to task the...

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter says that his committee and the Government Accountability Office “have reservations” about the “completeness” of the Pentagon’s Mobility Capabilities Study. Speaking at a Thursday hearing to review the TRANSCOM budget request, Hunter noted...

Considering the heat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has heaped on USAF over the past few years, his actions at Thursday’s Capitol Hill hearing on the Air Force budget were relatively benign. He pointed out that a lot of the ongoing...

Blame the Navy: Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) says he is very concerned about the Pentagon decision to terminate the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Chairman of the Armed Services Committee told the Air Force’s top two...

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) is taking exception to the Pentagon premise that fielding a new long-range strike platform sooner is more preferable to upgrading the B-2 stealth bomber. At a House hearing on Wednesday, Skelton said, “In my view, a...

The Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael Moseley, told lawmakers Wednesday that the Air Force has “offered up 71 joint cumulative new endeavors to better associate with the Guard,” moving it “into new equipment and new mission areas.” He...

Once Terminated, Now a Hit: The Air Force’s new C-130J model Hercules tactical airlifter escaped the Pentagon ax last year because it turned out to be more costly to cancel the program than finish the procurement. Now, it seems, the...

A recent Gallup Poll shows that Americans, for the most part, think the US spends the right amount to sustain its military. It’s interesting to note, though, that although 32 percent of Americans think we spend too much on defense,...

Russia presented its Order of Friendship medal to USAF Maj. Patrick Poon and Lt. Cmdr. Steve Smith for their participation in rescuing Russian submariners trapped underwater last August. Poon is commander of Det. 1, 36th Contingency Response Group, Yokota AB,...

Airmen of the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing at Frances S. Gabreski Field, N.Y., volunteered to test a new aerial rescue basket. The new Heli-Basket, designed to be used with rescue helicopters, can carry up to 15...

March 1, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 11 3 – 14 CAS/Armed Recon 50 22 – 72 Airlift – – 160 160 Air refueling – – 29 29 Total 61 25 189 275 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...