The airmen of the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins AFB, Ga., who fly, operate, and maintain the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft have amassed 20,000 combat flying hours covering operations in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past four years, reports the Desert Eagle newspaper. And, some of these airmen have served in theater for more than a year; most have made numerous deployments. On the record flight—the 1,756th combat sortie—the Joint STARS crew, flying at 30,000 feet, heard a “mayday” call from troops stranded on a helicopter that had crashed in a lake. The E-8 crew relayed the distress call, bringing a speedy rescue.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgAir Force Flight Test Center engineers at Edwards AFB, Calif., designed special...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgGen. John D.W. Corley, the Air Force vice chief of staff, believes...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgVeterans Affairs awarded a $3.7 million contract to SMS, Inc., Aug. 14,...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgThe Government Accountability Office says that DOD does not have a good...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgAccording to data compiled by GAO analysts for the new report on...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgAs predicted, Lockheed Martin filed a protest on Aug. 14 with the...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgRockwell Collins says it has teamed with Boeing and Honeywell to vie...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgThe 412th Operations Group at Edwards AFB, Calif., recently staged a live-fly...

Other airmen call them the “Bats”—they are the crews of the Air Force’s only two EC-130 Compass Call electronic combat squadrons, and they have been “continuously deployed to the [Southwest Asia area of responsibility] since spring 2004,” reports the Rock Slate newspaper. One squadron—the 41st ECS—covers Afghanistan, while the other—43rd ECS—covers Iraq. (Read more in “Evolving to Meet Today’s EW Threat.”) In 2005, the 43rd ECS responded to more than 1,500 joint tactical air strike requests to block electronic signals. So far this year, the squadron has answered more than 1,125 JTASRs.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgAirmen from Ramstein AB, Germany, deployed to Niger to collect satellite imagery...

Bunkers are now in place at Ali Base, Iraq, in response to an increase in rocket attacks. Construction began on the concrete shelters the day after Col. David Orr, 407th Air Expeditionary Group commander, ordered the new bunkers to increase safety and security. Local contractors provided and placed barriers and t-walls to fortify high traffic areas, providing protection for airmen from fragmentation of rockets, shrapnel, and debris. In the near future, the AEG plans to install benches and reinforce the bunkers with sandbags, reports to the base newspaper, Ali Times.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgNineteen Air Force cadets graduated with sixteen military and civilian colleagues from...

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.orgAug. 14, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 16 6...