Air Strike Kills Taliban Chief:

Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan has confirmed that a coalition air strike on Dec. 19 killed senior Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani. The strike utilized intelligence that placed him in a deserted area near the Pakistan border, targeting his vehicle and...

It was a “Large” Training Run:

Active duty and Air Force Reserve Command airmen on Dec. 21 flew the largest formation of C-17 airlifters from a single base to date, when they took 20 C-17s airborne from Charleston AFB, S.C. After taking off in 30-second intervals,...

Airmen Aid in Blizzard Rescue:

Airmen from F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., joined with Colorado state road crew to free a man trapped in his vehicle for some 13 hours by four feet of snow. Requested by the Sheriff’s Department at 3:14 a.m. on Dec. 21,...

From Tropics to Desert:

The Air National Guardsmen from Puerto Rico are nearing the end of their first combat rotation to Southwest Asia, where they have found the work pace “unreal,” reports Air Force journalist Louis Arana-Barradas. But it wasn’t so much the pace—flying...

Forming a Medical Task Force:

DOD has launched the 14-member—seven military, seven external—taskforce that Congress mandated in the Fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill should contemplate the future of military healthcare. The Pentagon recently stated that it would be revamping medical operations but not creating a...

Upping Foreign Recruits?:

According to the Boston Globe, the Pentagon quietly has been pursuing a plan to increase the number of noncitizens it recruits into the armed forces to counter a weak recruiting market and to support a plan to expand the land...

How to Keep an Air Base, Sort of:

The saga of Otis ANGB, Mass., continues as a local CBS TV affiliate reports that state officials have signed an agreement to turn the facility into a Massachusetts military reservation, paving the way for the Coast Guard to take over...

A Step Ahead for Shaw:

In South Carolina near Shaw Air Force Base, local officials want to protect the air base from potential encroachment, so they formed the Shaw Protection Committee, reports Associated Press news service. They do not believe that BRAC 2005 was the...

More than One Way to Press Message:

In a continued push to make the average airman a spokesman for the Air Force, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley recently convened a one-day summit to forge a strategic communication blueprint that would...

Getting Revamped Frogfoots:

The Russian Air Force will be getting six modernized Su-25 attack aircraft this week, reports the Russian News & Information Agency. This latest version of the Frogfoot is the Su-25SM

First Up with Hydrogen Fuel:

Hickam AFB, Hawaii apparently will be first in line to produce hydrogen fuel for the Air Force and other DOD customers, forming a partnership with the state in the form of a joint green energy initiative that makes the venture...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Dec. 21-25, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 65 37 102 CAS/Armed Recon 145 145 290 Airlift 619 619 Air refueling 162 162 Total 210 182 781 1,173 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance