The survival of all 17 aboard a mammoth C-5 Galaxy that crashed yesterday near Dover AFB, Del., is “a miracle, an absolute miracle,” Lt. Col. Mark Ruse, base civil engineer, told reporters yesterday. According to the Baltimore Sun, the C-5...

Is It Just Speculation?: News media earlier this year reported that nameless US Air Force officials had acknowledged that, once US ground troops leave, USAF would remain to provide not only strike airpower but also the battlefield airmen to guide...

After three weeks of air-to-air combat exercises between the US Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force, the airmen involved believe Cope Taufan 2006 proved a new level of interoperability. For the USAF F-15 pilots, flying with the RMAF...

The fifth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force—retired CMSAF Robert Gaylor—now has his name on the NCO academy at Lackland AFB, Tex. Gaylor is no stranger to the facility, having spoken to more than 27,000 airmen who have attended...

An Air Force official says Air Mobility Command is transforming supply processes to better meet the demand of Mobility Air Forces around the world. A recently dedicated one-stop center—the Mobility Logistics Support Center at Scott AFB, Ill.—will take care of...

Whence the JSF Timetable: Reuters news service reports that Pentagon acquisition guru Kenneth Krieg held a set-to last week with DOD and service officials to lay out a timetable for acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. They met but...

A new report from the Government Accountability Office assessing 52 major weapon systems calls into question the Air Force’s rush to procure more of the highly acclaimed RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. GAO claims program restructuring, overlapping development, and production schedules for both the RQ-4A and B models and accelerated planned deliveries are pushing program costs up much faster than anticipated. GAO also casts a most wary eye on procurement of the less technologically mature B model. The Air Force aided the GAO in its quest for information—no hidden agenda here—and commented that the service keeps DOD abreast of the “risks and benefits” in the program. USAF officials also noted that software, not hardware, is the “critical element” for the newer B model, but add that the revolutionary radar and signals sensors progress only through test and decision points. (You can read the entire 148-page report here.)

The Aussie Exchange: On some USAF KC-135 aerial refueling sorties the cockpit voices have a decidedly “down under” flavor. Royal Australian Air Force pilots vie for a chance to train and fly US Air Force tankers. Each must have a...

Partaking in the Air Force’s 2005 climate survey were more than half of the total force, according to service officials. USAF has not released the actual survey to the public yet, but Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, shared the...

Since the first of the year, the Pentagon Inspector General has released three of eight reports of investigation into programs that may have been tainted by Darleen Druyun—the one-time Air Force acquisition official who served time in prison for violating ethics rules, principally for favoring Boeing on contract awards to secure a job for herself and relatives. One investigation reviewed the procurement of a new aircraft cargo loader—dubbed the Tunner by the Air Force—and found Druyun “influenced” the source of repair for the new loader, directing the work to Systems & Electronics Inc. The other two concerned the C-5 avionics modernization program and F-16 simulator services, in both of which the IG found that Druyun had favored Lockheed Martin.

Remains found in the wreckage of a B-24 Liberator discovered in New Guinea have been identified as the body of Army Air Forces bombardier Charles “Buddy” Feucht, a 24-year old airman who disappeared during a 1943 mission over the Pacific...

Air Force pilot Lt. Alvin Crane has been missing since his T-6F took off from Camp K-47 in Korea on Sept. 13, 1951—a mission that ended with North Korean forces shooting down the aircraft. The remains of his co-pilot—Sgt. Gordon...

The Government Accountability Office is often the governmental body that is entrusted with double-checking contracts and ferreting out irregularities in government operations, but a GAO employee is now blowing his own whistle at his bosses. Subrata Ghoshroy, a GAO analyst,...

March 31-April 2, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 41 15 56 CAS/Armed Recon 136 62 198 Airlift 365 365 Air refueling 101 101 Total 177 77 466 720 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance