The leader of the Air National Guard believes the Air National Guard needs more airmen to accomplish the missions assigned to it by the Air Force. That must be unwelcome news for an Air Force leadership that plans to cut...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) couldn’t agree more with Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, ANG Director, (see above). The Chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee said he “was surprised” that the Quadrennial Defense Review would advocate such cuts “at...

Both Air Reserve Components have equipment issues that bear fixing. In general, the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command forces fly the oldest of the Air Force’s aircraft. The service knows this and wants to retire old systems,...

Space Command Lives: “Lots of rumors” that Air Force Space Command will be downgraded to less than a major command and headed by a three-star general are untrue, according to its acting chief, Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz. He assured...

There would appear to be tough times ahead for USAF leadership plans to retire older aircraft to pay for recapitalization for newer aircraft. The save-the-B-52 lawmakers have been organizing, and now it seems some also want to save the U-2....

It would seem that the Pentagon let the cart get before the horse when it OK’d the plan to retire all USAF’s high-flying U-2 reconnaissance aircraft by Fiscal 2011. There apparently is concern from warfighting commanders that there may be...

GAO Blames Glint of U-2 Retirement: Government Accountability Office senior analyst Michael Sullivan says that the two highly successful UAV programs—Predator and Global Hawk—took divergent acquisition paths and for Global Hawk “requirements creep” set in early. Sullivan was responding to...

MSgt. Cary Miller of the Kentucky Air National Guard flew into the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan to aid in the rescue of a Special Forces crew from a downed Army CH-47 helicopter surrounded by hostiles. Lt. Gen. Steven Blum,...

Mine-clearing personnel at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, found an 1,100-pound Russian penetrating bomb containing 167 pounds of explosives about 200 feet from the base’s runway. Normally, an explosive ordnance disposal team would blow unexploded ordnance in place, but, in this case,...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims he is “perfectly honest” when he says, “I don’t know what she was talking about.” Rumsfeld was responding to a question from Scott Hennen with WDAY radio in Fargo, N.D., who wanted to know if...

Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told Washington-based defense reporters Thursday that all the military services are “shaping or reshaping” the roles of the National Guard and Reserves as they are increasingly called upon to serve overseas...

The US Air Force Academy Association of Graduates has selected retired Gen. Hansford T. Johnson (Class of 1959) and retired Gen. Michael E. Ryan (Class of 1965) for its 2006 Distinguished Graduate awards. Johnson, who was the first USAFA graduate...

Airmen assigned to Lajes Field, Portugal, in the Azores, say they recently recorded the second highest ground-level wind gust—at 68 mph—in three years and it came on the second straight day of 50-plus winds. The field’s tower level wind sensor...

April 5, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 12 5 17 CAS/Armed Recon 56 25 81 Airlift 180 180 Air refueling 31 31 Total 68 30 211 309 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance