July 10, 2006 | Air & Space Forces Magazine

The Name is Lightning II:

The Air Force has chosen the name Lightning II for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, announcing the choice at a special ceremony at the Fort Worth facility of prime contractor Lockheed Martin on July 7, 2006. Air Force Gen....

Another Air Guard Unit Saved?:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says that the state’s Air National Guard wing at Key Field near Meridian, Miss., has a new lease on life. The 186th Air Refueling Wing is slated to lose its KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft under BRAC...

Making Cargo Fly:

The logistics airmen at Balad AB, Iraq, have turned the base into a hub-and-spoke system that has streamlined the cargo delivery process within the theater. There are 96 aerial porters that are central to the endeavor because they essentially do...

B-1 Pilot Nabs 4,000 Flight Hours:

Lt. Col. Jeff Roetzel with the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron recently passed a milestone in the B-1B, becoming the first pilot to go over 4,000 flying hours in the Lancer, better known among the airmen who fly and maintain it...

Toting Up His First Year:

Gen. William Looney, writes in a commentary on his first year as head of Air Education and Training Command, that AETC faced a more trying year than usual, with one of its premier training centers devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Among...

PACAF Top Is Pacific Veteran:

The new Command Chief Master Sergeant for Pacific Air Forces, CMSgt. Anthony Bishop, began his Air Force career at Andersen AFB, Guam, and served two more PACAF tours on Okinawa at Kadena AB, Japan. Most recently, Bishop served as the...

The Extent of Our Interests:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bristled last week during a barrage of questions following the missile launches by North Korea when one reporter suggested that the missiles were largely harmless to US interests. Rumsfeld replied that the US has “interests that...

North Korea Pundit Party:

With the Fourth of July fireworks show put on by North Korea as the backdrop, security analysts and pundits had a field day dissecting what the event signals for the holdout Stalinists in Pyongyang. Writing in the New York Post,...

12th AF Gets New Chief:

Lt. Gen. Norman R. Seip assumed command of 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern Friday during a ceremony at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Seip, who was confirmed for his new post by the Senate in May, takes over from Lt....

AFIT Has New and Old Ties to Space:

Air Force Institute of Technology officials noted recently that AFIT has bred a good many of the Air Force personnel who have participated in space activities. The school’s early alumni include Mercury astronauts Gordon Cooper and Gus Grissom. Today’s commander...

Russia’s Latest Aircraft Plans:

Moscow now says it will purchase 58 Su-34 fighter-bombers by 2015 and may receive its first new Tu-160 strategic bomber by the end of this year, according to the Russian News & Information Agency. The Su-34 is slated to replace...

CRS Crunches the War Numbers:

According to the latest Congressional Research Service accounting of the cost of operations in the Global War on Terror, the Administration would have spent about $319 billion on operations in Iraq and $88 billion for Afghanistan. These numbers include the most recently approved Fiscal 2006 emergency supplemental funding, signed into law June 15. DOD has spent another $26 billion on enhanced base security. CRS calculates that the average monthly Pentagon tab for Iraqis about $6.4 billion and for Afghanistan is $1.3 billion. The Congressional analysts also note that when compared to Fiscal 2004 these averages are 28 percent higher for Iraq and 18 percent higher for Afghanistan.