A Senate amendment to save the Air Force’s planned multiyear procurement for the F-22A Raptor passed Thursday—by a 70 to 28 vote. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) proposed the amendment (see below), which would authorize the Air Force to enter into...

Yet another report surfaces criticizing the Air Force plan to use a multiyear approach to purchase future F-22A Raptors—this one from the Government Accountability Office. An earlier independent review commissioned by USAF also found that the service’s proposal to stretch...

With North Korea nearing its first test launch of a ballistic missile that could strike within the US, Clinton Administration defense chief William J. Perry is calling for a pre-emptive strike to target that long-range missile on its pad. In...

Air Force and Army officials signed an agreement Wednesday that formally provides for the two services to jointly pursue the Joint Cargo Aircraft program, reports Reuters news service. The Army was further along in developing requirements for what it initially...

The Fiscal 2007 defense appropriations bill that passed out of the House earlier this week would provide the Air Force with $2.9 billion to fully fund purchase of 20 F-22A Raptors and another $477 million toward advance procurement of 20...

Veterans Affairs officials told lawmakers Tuesday that the special call center VA established following the May 3 theft of information on some 26.5 million veterans and another 2.2 million active and reserve personnel is costing about $200,000 a day to...

NJ ANG Wants a Cushion: The BRAC 2005 commission spared the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108th Air Refueling Wing at McGuire AFB, N.J., although USAF wanted to totally strip its KC-135s, taking only eight of the wing’s aerial refuelers....

Close to 100 Percent on NCO Retraining: Air Force Personnel Center officials say the 2006 non-commissioned officer retraining program achieved 95 percent of its goal, making it the “most successful” effort to date. One thing that spurred NCOs to retrain...

Mini Sats Blast Off: A pair of mini-satellites that will test military and intelligence technology in orbit blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday night aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Boeing officials say the booster launched...

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a pair of contracts, to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon respectively, as part of the Integrated Sensor Is Structure (ISIS) program—leading to a stratospheric airship operating at 70,000 feet as a surveillance platform with...

Pratt & Whitney’s F135 initial flight test powerplant for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has finished successful runs at NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex., which is near Lockheed Martin’s final assembly plant, according to a company statement. The company says...

The Russian Air Force has in the works an upgraded A-50 airborne warning and control system aircraft and expects to take delivery in 2008, Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov announced to Russian news agencies Thursday. He said the revamped aircraft would contain...

June 21, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 7 22 CAS/Armed Recon 60 26 86 Airlift 140 140 Air refueling 41 41 Total 75 33 181 289 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance