The House Armed Services Committee has decided that it will permit the Air Force to retire its C-5A aircraft—comprising the 60 oldest airframes in the C-5 fleet. However, in marking up its version of the 2007 defense authorization bill, the...

House authorizers have added $299.8 million and redirected another $389.6 million for the Air Force to purchase three additional C-17s in 2007. The Administration’s 2007 budget proposal would have capped C-17 acquisition at 180 airframes and put money toward shutdown...

The Air Force will be able to retire one old B-52 bomber, 29 KC-135E tankers, and zero U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, if the House Armed Services Committee gets its way with the 2007 defense authorization bill. The panel “strongly opposes” reducing...

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) says that the Pentagon has ignored “warnings over the dramatic growth in the cost of military products.” To remedy this, Hunter’s House Armed Services Committee proposes that the Pentagon consider conducting a new competition for any...

House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter maintains that the Pentagon has a penchant for “increasingly expensive” platforms and ultimately does not “deploy these more expensive systems in sufficient numbers to sustain operational needs.” He wants to change that. In presenting...

Is Tricare Fee Hike Dead?: The House Armed Services Committee backed its subcommittee on military personnel in prohibiting the Pentagon from increasing Tricare fees for military retirees under age 65—at least until Dec. 31, 2007. The committee added $735 million...

The Air Force’s Chief Information Officer and Chief of Warfighting Integration, Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, says that the Air Force is behind industry when it comes to network operations. Speaking Thursday at a Capitol Hill breakfast meeting, Peterson said that...

The Air Force got so good at gathering information from the 1970s to 1990s by employing new capabilities such as E-3 airborne warning and control systems and E-8 Joint STARS ground surveillance aircraft that nobody saw the stovepipes emerging, said...

Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, USAF’s top information officer, told this reporter Thursday that the “best part” of this year’s Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment “hotwash” was that no one was complaining. Peterson explained that the key software experiments comprising the battlefield...

The venerable B-52 bomber continues to amaze, flying close air support missions over Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. Air Force officials say that over the past eight months, B-52 aircrews have flown more than 450 combat sorties, roughly 7,500 hours....

Included in the House authorizers version of the 2007 defense authorization bill is a provision to permanently reduce by six months the time-in-grade requirement for an officer to become eligible for promotion to captain (or Navy, lieutenant). The current period...

Roudebush Nominated as USAF Top Doc: President Bush has nominated Maj. Gen. James G. Roudebush for a third star and to become the Air Force Surgeon General. Roudebush, who currently serves as the deputy SG, would replace Lt. Gen. George...

Senator Would Delay Pay Portion of NSPS: Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) plans to introduce legislation that would delay full introduction of the Pentagon’s National Security Personnel System. He wants DOD to implement the new performance appraisals portion before it begins...

Taking a Time Out: There is a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping military couples “get to know each other again,” according to Tom Wagner, executive director for the Military, Veteran, and Family Assistance Foundation, based in Dallas. The organization hosts...

May 3, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 6 6 12 CAS/Armed Recon 50 22 72 Airlift 145 145 Air refueling 34 34 Total 56 28 179 263 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance