January 4, 2007 | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Beyond a Bird in Hand:

The Duluth, Minn., Chamber of Commerce has set its sight on gaining a new mission for the Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, even though the unit does not fall to the BRAC 2005 axe. The Pentagon had...

“CSI” Inspires DOD:

The Defense Department is using America’s tax dollars to turn scientists into screenplay writers. The Christian Science Monitor reports that DOD hopes scientists attending a three-to-five-day screenwriting class, the Catalyst Workshop, will end up producing authentic, appealing scientific-themed films that...

Who’s Kidding Whom?:

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) thinks his state may not lose an Air Force Research Lab facility at Mesa, Ariz., that BRAC 2005 directed should move to AFRL headquarters at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Flake told the Arizona Republic that the action...

Major Changes for House Committee:

A significant reshuffling of oversight responsibility is in the offing under the leadership of the new House Armed Services Committee Chairman, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.). Government Executive reports that Skelton will shift Air Force strategic air to the Air and...

More Upgrades to Come?:

The Air Force is well into currently planned upgrades for its B-2 bomber fleet and has others in mind, according to Lt. Col. Brian Zembraski, staff director for the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo. He recounts addition of...

AGILE in Combat:

ITT is working with the Air Force to develop an advanced imagery management and dissemination system for combat forces. It receives processed imagery from various intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance sources, allowing the military to quickly locate and access current imagery. The system, which incorporates the Advanced Geospatial Imagery Library Enterprise, disseminates imagery in near real time to combat forces in the field at low bandwidths. An ITT releases says the “dynamic access” of full-frame imagery reduces tactical decision-making time “from days/hours to minutes/seconds.”

Engine Maintenance in Theater:

The Air Force has placed an engine test cell in Southwest Asia to enable maintainers to repair the C-130 tactical airlifter’s T56 engine and propellers. Air Force journalist SrA. Aldric Borders reports that the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron’s Centralized Intermediate Repair Facility officially opened for business last month, making it possible to eliminate the expense and time required to ship engines and props outside SWA—a real boon for the heavily used C-130s.

It’s a Deal:

Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and L-3 Communications have signed a strategic partnership agreement that is to serve as the basis for a long-term arrangement between the two for Joint Cargo Aircraft support opportunities—if L-3 wins the Army-Air Force JCA...

Iraq Still at the Top:

A new Gallup Poll shows that a large majority of Americans want the President and Congress to focus on the situation in Iraq. The Dec. 18-20 survey registered the highest percentage (72 percent) Gallup has measured to date. The next...

Moving into the Information Game:

The latest national defense White Paper from China sets a three-step course on the road to modernization, culminating in the middle of the century with “building informationalized armed forces and being capably of winning informationalized wars.” The paper states that...