The Air Force has submitted to Congress nearly $17 billion in unfunded requirements for Fiscal 2008. That is nearly three times USAF’s $5.7 billion 2007 wish list and reportedly is more than the Army ($11 billion), Navy ($5.7 billion), and Marine Corps ($3.2 billon) submitted for their 2008 unfunded priority lists. At the head of the Air Force’s top 25 priority items is $2.6 billion to purchase replacements for aircraft that the service says have either been lost or stressed in operations or training for the global war on terror. The new aircraft would include five CV-22 special operations force tilt-rotor aircraft, 15 C-130J tactical airlifters, four MC-130 SOF aircraft, and nine T-6 trainers. The money would also buy five additional C-130Js to offset “restriction-prone” C-130Es.

The rest of the Air Force’s top 25 unfunded priorities for Fiscal 2008 (see above) includes such things as new engines and night vision goggles for HH-60G combat search and rescue helicopters; six additional MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to...

Pilots from the 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadron were frustrated flying against the F-22A Raptor in the aircraft’s first Red Flag exercise, held Feb. 3 to 16 at Nellis AFB, Nev., reports TSgt. Russell Wicke. Aggressor pilots attempted to use...

Four pararescuemen and two combat rescue officers with Air Force Reserve Command’s 304th Rescue Squadron, Portland, Ore., helped save three mountain climbers and a dog trapped on Mount Hood Feb. 18. The climbers and their dog—roped together—had fallen through a...

Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), stumping in South Carolina on Monday, characterized Donald Rumsfeld as one of the “worst Secretaries of Defense in history.” Responding Tuesday to questions, White House spokesman Tony Snow was both dismissive and supportive. He...

Reporters peppered White House spokesman Tony Snow with questions stemming from the Washington Post’s exposé of the poor living conditions and paperwork snafus combat-wounded outpatients are experiencing in the National Capitol Region, repeatedly asking when did the President first know...

The Army “has been working” on the housing problems publicized in the Washington Post (see above), according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. Top Pentagon leaders are now engaged, he said. According to a Pentagon release, the Army and Navy Secretaries...

The Military Coalition’s Guard and Reserve Committee again is asking Congress to lower the reserve retirement age because the “vintage” retirement system does not recognize the “increase in service and sacrifice of Guard and Reserve service members” under the Operational...

According to the Harwich Oracle, Air Force Space Command maintains that the turbines of a proposed wind farm on Nantucket Sound would not affect its PAVE PAWS phased-array warning radar station in Sagamore. The command issued a decision in 2004...

A new national survey conducted Feb. 5-7 by Public Opinion Strategies shows that the majority of Americans are against the idea of a troop withdrawal from Iraq right now. Voters support the idea of “finishing the job in Iraq” and...

Another national survey, this one conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Feb. 7-11, indicates that there’s almost an even split among Americans who believe the US will succeed in Iraq and those who don’t...

A new report details how the proposed $136 million California Space Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base would give San Luis Obispo County a substantial economic boost between tourism, the creation of new jobs, and the results of 10 years...

In case you wondered, the San Antonio Express-News reports that the former Air Force basic training drill instructor who posed nude for Playboy magazine has resigned. The newspaper also reports that the Air Force kicked SSgt. Michelle Manhart from active...

Feb. 19, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 16 7 23 CAS/Armed Recon 46 37 83 Airlift 155 155 Air refueling 32 32 Total 62 44 187 293 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance