An Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle fired one of its Hellfire missiles, killing three insurgents in the act of planting an improvised explosive devise near Balad AB, Iraq. US Central Command Air Forces officials say the Predator monitored...

US Central Command said Thursday that an airman assigned to the 447th Air Expeditionary Group was killed and another airman was wounded when an improvised explosive device blew up during safing operations near Baghdad, Iraq, on March 29. The Pentagon...

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says that the Air Force expects an “imminent” release of a request for information from industry, followed by a request for proposals in September. Wynne, who was speaking at the 2006 spring policy-briefing luncheon hosted...

Ask Air Force Secretary Wynne what challenges the Air Force and he will say that it’s “trying to get six pounds into a five-pound sack.” He was referring, of course, to requirements vs. budget. Wynne told Senate appropriators Wednesday afternoon...

Cuts the Air Force proposes in the 2007 defense budget include 50 ICBMs. And, Republican Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana asked Air Force officials Wednesday what has changed since just last year when the Nuclear Posture Review set the ICBM...

At another Capitol Hill hearing later on Wednesday, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, head of US Strategic Command, acknowledged that the 2007 defense budget called for cutting the Minuteman force from 500 to 450, however, he added that the number...

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is continuing his assault against the Air Force plan to cut 38 B-52 bombers, reducing the venerable fleet to from 94 to 56 airframes. Dorgan pointed out at Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing...

Accompanying the Air Force’s two top leaders to recent hearings on Capitol Hill have been several airmen of various ranks and career fields, among them a Silver Star recipient. TSgt. Brad Reilly is a battlefield airman, who Gen. Michael Moseley,...

Defense Threat Reduction Agency chief James Tegnelia told reporters Tuesday that his agency will be conducting an unprecedented conventional weapons test in the Nevada desert this summer—using a 700-ton explosive. The aim, said Tegnelia, is to find a means to...

Can the Air Force say for certain that it will have a replacement tanker in production before the risk of retiring 114 KC-135Es “becomes untenable”? That is the question posed by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to the service’s top uniformed...

How does Air Force officials really know that the heavily used C-17 strategic transport is showing more wear than forecast at this stage? The new airlifter tells them. Gen. Michael Moseley explained to Senate appropriators that the C-17 is “instrumented,...

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska offered “a little history” about a Nixon-era Presidential order that mandates there will always be a three-star Air Force general in the state of Alaska, and then challenged the Air Force leadership on their plans...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wanted to know what exactly differentiates Global Strike from Prompt Global Strike. Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, head of US Strategic Command, explained at a Senate strategic forces subcommittee hearing this week that the key...

Peter C.W. Flory, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security, assured the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that the Pentagon’s plan to use conventional-tipped ballistic missiles in its new prompt global strike package won’t set off nuclear alarm bells...

Air National Guard C-130s equipped to drop up to 2,700 gallons of fire retardant or water have deployed from the 145th Airlift Wing in North Carolina to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico to set up camp in case...

An Air Combat Command investigation into the mishap between a KC-10 aerial refueler and an F-16 attempting to refuel says the “boom operator’s abrupt and excessive” maneuvers with the boom flight control stick caused $930,000 worth of damage to the...

March 29, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 5 20 CAS/Armed Recon 54 26 80 Airlift 170 170 Air refueling 35 35 Total 69 31 205 305 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance