Cannon Very Much in Contention for Special Ops

Cannon Very Much in Contention for Special Ops: The Air Force now has a report that indicates the service should seriously consider Cannon AFB, N.M., as a possible site for elements of Air Force Special Operations Command, reports the Clovis...

Confusion Reigns on Joint Cargo Aircraft

According to The Hill, the Pentagon’s effort to get the Air Force and Army to work together on a new light transport—recently dubbed the Joint Cargo Aircraft—is unraveling, at least from an Army standpoint. The Congressional newspaper notes that the...

Global Hawk Has a Manned Stand-in

The Air Force plans to test a new radar for the much-in-demand Global Hawk high-flying reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle using a manned stand-in—the Proteus, a twin turbofan high altitude multi-mission aircraft similar in size to Global Hawk. The Electronic Systems...

Lockheed Gets Hybrid Launch Vehicle Work

Lockheed Gets Hybrid Launch Vehicle Work: Lockheed Martin officials say the Air Force has given the company a $2.5 million contract to participate in the Hybrid Launch Vehicle studies and analysis program, which is part of the Operationally Responsive Space...

It’s Official, Bush Taps Hayden for CIA

President Bush formally nominated Gen. Michael V. Hayden to head the Central Intelligence Agency. The announcement is almost anticlimactic; Bush’s choice has been the subject of endless Beltway discourse since Hayden’s name came up shortly after former CIA head Porter...

Hit the Artery, Not the Capillary

Hit the Artery, Not the Capillary: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there is no “turf battle” among intelligence leaders, specifically between himself and CIA director nominee Gen. Michael Hayden. (See above.) At Tuesday’s Pentagon press briefing, Rumsfeld sought to quell...

Bush Visits Vance AFB

Bush Visits Vance AFB: President Bush dropped in with Air Force One at Vance AFB, Okla., on May 6, enroute to Oklahoma State University to deliver a commencement address. At Vance, some 300 servicemembers, civilians, and family members came out...

USAF Goes to Berlin

US Air Forces in Europe says that some 90 aircrew and support personnel from bases throughout Europe and the US will participate in this year’s Berlin International Air Show at the Berlin-Schonefeld Airport from May 16-21, 2006. USAF aircraft destined...

It’s a Wrap in Alaska

The first installment of Red Flag-Alaska has wrapped up at Eielson AFB, Alaska, after nearly two weeks of exercises in which more than 84 aircraft and 1,500 Air Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command airmen participated. In...

DOD Concludes Pakistan Talks

US and Pakistan officials ended five days of consultation on May 5. Eric Edelman, the Pentagon’s policy chief, and retired Lt. Gen. Tariq Waseem Ghazi, Pakistan’s Secretary Defense, led the 17th annual meeting of the US and Pakistan defense consultative...

Combined Endeavor to Boost Communication

More than 1,200 military and civilian experts from 41 countries will begin Combined Endeavor 2006 on May 12 in Germany and Bosnia, marking the largest security cooperation and communications military exercise in the world. “The exercise is creating the future...

Missing WWII Airmen Identified:

The Pentagon has identified the remains of two members of a four-person Army Air Forces crew that went missing in action on March 27, 1944, while trying to complete a C-46 resupply mission over the Himalayas. The two identified are...

Psychologist Wins Brown Award for Fatigue Work:

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne presented the 2005 Harold Brown Award to John Caldwell during a Pentagon ceremony to honor Caldwell’s work in the biosciences and protection division of the human effectiveness directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory. His...

Pentagon Releases New Civ Pay Tables:

Pentagon officials have released the pay tables for the new National Security Personnel System. (They can be found here.) The NSPS Web site also now features a conversion fact sheet that gives general information concerning conversion to the new program....

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

May 8, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 9 23 CAS/Armed Recon 58 30 88 Airlift 165 165 Air refueling 34 34 Total 72 39 199 310 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance