The Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, has been plagued with budgetary and developmental problems that trace their birth to the 1990s, says Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, head of Space and Missile Systems Center. Speaking with defense reporters in Washington...

The US military plans to cooperate with and share signals with Europe’s Galileo system, said Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, who serves both as commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center and USAF’s space program executive officer. Hamel told Washington-based...

It is no secret that US military forces have become more and more dependent on space, leading to an absolute need for space superiority, Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel told defense reporters in Washington Tuesday morning. The Air Force’s program executive...

Space and Missile Systems Center will play a key role in Congress’s requirement that DOD develop operationally responsive space capabilities, Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of SMC said Tuesday at a breakfast meeting with Washington-based defense reporters. He explained: “We...

Missile Defense Agency and Air Force officials formally helped roll out the Airborne Laser aircraft at Boeing’s Wichita, Kan., facility last week in preparation for low power flight tests. (The ABL team test fired low-power surrogate lasers from within the...

The Air Force and Army plan to award a contract for the Joint Cargo Aircraft program in March, reports Reuters news service. According to Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt the Army and Air Force must sort out conflicting legislative language,...

The Air National Guard will slash budgets for flying hours and other activities to meet $1.8 billion worth of cuts from Fiscal 2008 to 2013, said CMSgt. Richard Smith, ANG’s top enlisted man, at a recent enlisted symposium in Bismarck,...

Palmdale, Calif., officials are trying to buy a B-52 bomber that now sits on Oklahoma state fairgrounds for the city’s airpark, reports the LA Daily News. The airplane will serve as a tribute to that area’s contributions to aerospace. Palmdale...

The South Carolina Air National Guard is about to reap BRAC 2005 harvest with the Thursday arrival of the first of nine F-16CJ fighters coming from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, reports The State newspaper. Picking up the additional Vipers will...

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against the Air Force Academy that alleges the school was illegally forcing Christian rhetoric on cadets. US District Judge James Parker in New Mexico ruled that the former students who sought to sue...

The Korean Air Force has its eye on purchasing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, reports The Korea Herald, which notes that Seoul won’t complete purchase of 40 new F-15Ks until 2008. Because the JSF won’t start being deployed until after...

Air and Army members of the Oregon National Guard’s 102nd Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team spotlighted their first response capabilities, and how those interact with local police and firefighter efforts, in a demonstration Oct. 27 in Brooks, Ore. According...

The youngest airman in her class of 9,100 to graduate from USAF’s Community College of the Air Force is 19-year-old SrA. Sharon Hawley, according to an Air Force news release. Currently assigned to Edwards AFB, Calif. Hawley, who finished the...

Oct. 30, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 11 25 CAS/Armed Recon 34 33 67 Airlift 140 140 Air refueling 33 33 Total 48 44 173 265 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance