The USAFE Share

The Air Force plans to cut 3,530 active duty billets within US Air Forces in Europe over the next two years, which amounts to about 12 percent of airmen stationed there, reports Stars and Stripes. While the number of people/positions...

A New J Model Deal

The Air Force has converted its C-130J multiyear purchase contract with Lockheed Martin from a commercial type procurement arrangement to a traditional military contract. An Air Force press release noted that the rewickered deal repriced 39 aircraft, saving the government...

Expanding Reserve Space Ops

Air Force Reserve Command has been increasing the size—people and real estate—and the responsibility of its 310th Space Group at Schriever AFB, Colo. The group has grown from three units to 10 while it has been under the umbrella of...

Aussies Team With Hickam on C-17 Mx

Maintainers from the Royal Australian Air Force are getting a little C-17 training help from their American counterparts at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, as they prepare to receive their first C-17 airlifter. USAF photojournalist TSgt. Shane Cuomo reports that the 15th...

P&W Engine OK for JSF First Flight

Pratt & Whitney officials say the company’s F135 Joint Strike Fighter engine has been cleared to power the F-35 Lightning II on its first flight. The F135 has achieved initial flight release from the F-35 joint program office after completing...

On a Roll With DMOC:

The Air Force is quite pleased with the work Lockheed Martin has been doing at the service’s Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., so much so it has just awarded the company another $26 million to extend the...

Less Restrictions, More Freedom:

US Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, sent a letter to all 26 NATO defense chiefs asking them to drop troop restrictions in Afghanistan, reports Stars and Stripes. Jones says that some countries restrict which areas their...

The Mother of all Wind Tunnels:

Arnold Engineering and Development Center in Tennessee is overseeing the reactivation of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex at Moffett Field, Calif., and expects to see it reopen, after a three-year hiatus, in December. NFAC, billed as the world’s largest wind...

More Work Toward Alternate SBIRS:

The Air Force has awarded $25 million to Science Applications International Corp. to develop a “qualification model payload” for the risk reduction phase of the fledgling Alternate Infrared Satellite System, the proposed cousin to the Space-Based Infrared System, according to...

Seoul Has a New Cruise Missile:

South Korea has developed a 1,000-kilometer cruise missile to counter North Korea’s short and medium-range missiles, reports The Korea Times. The Korean military conducted a successful test of the missile recently, hitting targets with a margin of error of plus...

AMC’s En Route Crowd:

Air Mobility Command not only sends its transport aircraft around the world, it has specialist airmen at key facilities to ensure the transport and deployment process works well 24/7. AMC’s 732nd Air Mobility Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, is one...

Calling for Major Change:

A majority of Americans wants a major change in US foreign policy and is more likely to vote for Congressional candidates who support that idea, according to a new poll conducted by Program on International Policy Attitudes/Knowledge Networks. World Public...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Oct. 24, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 20 10 30 CAS/Armed Recon 34 31 65 Airlift 170 170 Air refueling 28 28 Total 54 41 198 293 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance