The GAO agrees with lawmakers who have questioned the Pentagon’s underlying motives in canceling the second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter program. In a new analysis, the Congressional watchdog agency states: The decision “was driven by the need to...

Boeing officials in St. Charles, Mo., yesterday heralded the delivery of the first production Small Diameter Bomb I system to the Air Force. The SDB system includes a four-bomb capacity carriage, which officials say is compatible with all USAF fighters...

Guam’s KUAM TV reports that the Air Force has offered three options in an environmental impact statement outlining the service’s plans for Andersen AFB, Guam. Service officials have said they want to place Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles and possibly...

The Senate has confirmed a third star for Maj. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr. and his assignment as commander of 8th Air Force, headquartered at Barksdale AFB, La. (He was nominated earlier this month.) Elder would replace Lt. Gen. Kevin...

Embedded Airmen Mentor Afghanis: There are some 150 airmen, comprising 20 teams scattered throughout Afghanistan, that are mentoring members of the Afghan National Army in communications, logistics, supply, medical skills, and training and education activities. Known as embedded training teams,...

The Senate, in a flurry of action May 19, confirmed stars and new jobs for Lt. Gen. William M. Fraser III, Maj. Gen. James G. Roudebush, and Maj. Gen. Norman R. Seip Fraser retains his three stars and is to...

According to Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, the Air Force’s chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer, the Air Force today has more than 19,000 software applications that perform tasks from changing pay information to ordering parts for an aircraft....

USAF C-130 maintainers have a new engine shop that enables them to repair the Hercules airlifters in theater—eliminating the nearly four week lag time for a stateside replacement. With this new capability, the 386th Expeditionary Maintenance Group can get the...

VA on Data Theft: In case you missed the national news coverage, Veteran Affairs confirmed that an electronic data file, taken home by an employee, was stolen. The data file contained names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for...

Israel Chafes Over JSF: Israel may be on the verge of dropping the Joint Strike Fighter. Associated Press news service reports that the problem is the Israeli desire to be able to modify the new fighters. It has planned to...

Kenney Comes Up on One Year: As the Kenney Headquarters at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, nears the end of its first year, a senior Pacific Air Forces official says the warfighting center fills a previous void, like the other warfighting headquarters...

Druyun “Hurried” KC-135 Depot Maintenance Contract: The DOD Inspector General has released another of its reviews of Air Force contracts “handled” by Darleen Druyun, and this one also shows that she favored Boeing. (Read about three earlier reports here.) According...

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ Steve Kosiak has crunched the numbers on DOD’s classified, or “black,” programs in the 2007 budget—revealing that black programs “appear to account” for approximately $30.1 billion of the acquisition funding. Kosiak says that...

May 21-22, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 27 8 35 CAS/Armed Recon 107 60 167 Airlift 345 345 Air refueling 93 93 Total 134 68 438 640 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance