Retired Brig. Gen. Terryl J. Schwalier, scapegoated for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, has been waging a major behind-the-scenes effort to clear his name. The story has many twists and turns, and is not yet over. Over the past four...

An Aeronautical Systems Center official says that Air Mobility Command now has eight C-5 airlifters that have completed the Avionics Modernization Program—one more than needed to restart operational test & evaluation. (Another two AMP-complete C-5s are due out this month.)...

Once a C-5 receives the avionics upgrade, it can move to the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program, the second phase of the service’s massive modernization program for its fleet of 112 C-5 airlifters. Currently, USAF has a has a system...

The Air Force does not expect to complete the massive two-part C-5 upgrade program until around 2020. Once done, it should reduce maintenance requirements and extend the service life of the huge airlifters for another 20 years—to 2040. However, the...

The Lockheed Martin-led A-10 industry team has turned over the Digital Stores Management System—a new weapons delivery system—as part of the upgrades the Air Force is making to the A-10 Warthog. USAF officials at Eglin AFB, Fla., have had the...

Seven A-10 Warthogs arrived at Barksdale AFB, La., on Tuesday as part of Air Force Reserve Command’s plan to advance the move of A-10s from New Orleans to their new home with the 917th Wing at Barksdale, near Shreveport. The...

The demands to airlift more cargo and personnel to both Iraq and Afghanistan are bearing down on US Air Forces in Europe. “Airlift is definitely big business,” said Col. Phil Bossert, commander of 16th Air Force’s air mobility operations control...

The plan to “concurrently test and produce” the Joint Strike Fighter does not sit well with the Government Accountability Office. In recent testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, Michael Sullivan, GAO’s director of...

British defense officials are more optimistic now than they were immediately following last week’s Senate Armed Services hearings into the Joint Strike Fighter’s alternate engine program, reports Reuters news service. Subsequent to the hearings, a British embassy spokesman told the...

An Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle crashed at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday during operations in Iraq. The UAV was based with the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Balad Air Base and was piloted from Creech AFB, Nev. Airmen and...

The Air Force has activated a new unit at Edwards AFB, Calif., to take over test duties for the Airborne Laser, designated YAL-1A. The sole function of the new 417th Flight Test Squadron will be to conduct the ABL test...

According to an Associated Press news service report spread across media from coast to coast (and, no doubt, beyond), the many construction projects ongoing at US military operated facilities in Iraq has signaled to Iraqis that the Americans are digging...

Since the combat debut of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the weapon has been used more than 15,000 times and is a weapon of choice for airmen in the Global War on Terror. The JDAM is a tail kit that...

The House Committee on Veterans Affairs recently focused on modernizing the GI Bill, hearing from representatives of the National Guard and Reserves on education benefits for the total force. Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) said his efforts to change the bill...

March 21, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 4 18 CAS/Armed Recon 56 23 79 Airlift 180 180 Air refueling 30 30 Total 70 27 210 307 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance