Expect official word today that the 18th Fighter Squadron, Eielson AFB, Alaska, will be converted into the 18th Aggressor Squadron in October 2007. Plans call for the Air Force to make a formal announcement, according to a message sent out...

Connecticut pursued a lawsuit to stop the BRAC 2005-mandated removal of the A-10s from the Air National Guard’s 103rd Fighter Wing at Bradley Field, Conn., until Wednesday when Gov. Jodi Rell announced that the state has secured a flying mission...

Apparently discussions between Michigan legislators and Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the National Guard Bureau, convinced Blum that he should recommend that the Pentagon station some of the new Joint Cargo Aircraft at the Air National Guard facility...

The airmen at RAF Mildenhall, England, who maintain the 15 KC-135 tankers of the 100th Air Refueling Wing, say the on average 44-year-old aircraft break down much less frequently in the warm weather of summer. The personnel who manage those...

The Air Force has notified 1,100 noncommissioned officers that they must retrain into shortage career fields or face separation as part of its Fiscal 2007 force-shaping plan. Officials said earlier this week that the service must shed some 8,000 officers...

An Aeronautical System’s Center effort to install a new UHF/VHF radio on USAF F-15s is almost complete, and the new radios have proven themselves in Southwest Asia, as well as Stateside. F-15Es flying over Southwest Asia have used their airborne...

The Senate has approved Sue Payton as the new Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. President Bush made the nomination in April, but Payton, who is currently Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts, did not...

According to a Washington Post report, retired Adm. Dennis Blair has decided to step down from his position on the board of EDO Corp. following Tuesdays allegations of conflict of interest because he also leads the Institute of Defense Analyses,...

Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor Renuart Jr. told Pentagon interviewers that both operational and strategic decision-makers now understand better the role of today’s unmanned aerial vehicles and that has led them to “collaborate much more” on using the information the...

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)—a staunch buy American advocate—has agreed to advance to conference legislation meant to reform the approval process for selling US companies with a role in national security to foreign owners. In a statement, Hunter acknowledged that the...

The Administration again stepped on Congressional toes when it opted not to let lawmakers know early about a planned sale of 36 F-16s to Pakistan. The Administration must give Congress 30 days in which to review the sale, but it...

Some 60 Air Force Reservists “deployed” to Ft. McCoy, Wis., to participate in the National Guard’s Patriot 06 exercise—which ends today—using the opportunity to get their every 40 months recertification to operate an emergency medical support system, otherwise known as...

A US Air Force medical team from Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB. Tex., is hard at work in Esmereldas, Ecuador conducting the location’s first Medical Readiness Training Exercise—known as MEDRETE—which concludes Friday. Two surgeons, a nurse anesthetist, two...

Officials at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., told the Lompoc (Calif.) Record that they plan to move the remaining 29 families from east base housing by the end of the year because the 1960’s vintage housing is too costly to maintain. They...

Air Force and Army Reservists teamed up recently to practice responding to a natural disaster—a giant surge wave hitting the Southern California coast—and, at the same time, help move the Army Reservists and their equipment to their new home at...

July 26, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 13 8 21 CAS/Armed Recon 42 26 68 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 40 40 Total 55 34 200 289 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance