The B-52 bombers deployed to Guam from Barksdale AFB, La., flew more than 18 continuous hours to participate in US Pacific Command’s Koa Lightning exercise in the Hawaiian islands, receiving two aerial refuelings during the 6,880-nautical mile round trip. Co-pilot...

The US Air Force sent F-15s based at Kadena AB, Japan, on the island of Okinawa to an Air Self Defense Force base in Japan to conduct training in what the Japan Times reports is the “start of reducing the...

It’s time again for Boeing to wake up the Air Force to commit to buying additional C-17 airlifters or watch the production line close down. Last fall, the company told the service that it had to see something concrete in...

The Lexington Institute’s Loren Thompson believes the Air Force simply “has become so politically correct that nobody can figure out what it’s saying.” Thompson complains about the C-17 snafu, among other things, writing that although USAF only cited a need...

The Bush Administration plan to expand US ground forces by 92,000 soldiers and marines will be too late to ease operational stresses caused by the war in Iraq, and “given world realities … looks like a marginal if not poor...

President Bush plans to appoint former Sen. Bob Dole, a World War II veteran, and former Clinton Administration Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to co-chair the new President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors—the commission spawned...

Arkansas National Guard officials just revealed that the Air National Guard’s 223rd Combat Communications Squadron at Hot Springs “will close its doors in April 2008,” reports KTHV news. According to the news report, states Guard leaders learned of the cuts...

The Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing has received the first of four additional C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft the unit will get under BRAC 2005. The Tribune-Eagle reports that this first one came from Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd...

Engineers at the Arnold Engineering and Development Center in Tennessee have completed wind tunnel testing for all three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. AEDC project manager 1st Lt. Ezra Caplan says the $50 million test process covered five...

First term Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the Bush Administration from conducting “unprovoked” military operations in Iran without a Congressional OK. In a floor statement, Webb said the measure “would restore a proper balance...

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll a majority of Americans do not want Congress to cut funds for the war in Iraq, even though a growing number believe the cause is lost. Some 59 percent of respondents now say...

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, wants to boost the Administration’s 2008 VA budget by $2.9 billion to expand funding for veterans’ medical care. The Administration has requested $36.6 billon out of a total VA budget...

The US military has opened a new hospital at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, naming it the Craig Joint Theater Hospital after fallen Army medic SSgt. Heathe Craig, who was killed last year. Air Force Col. Bart Iddins, commander of Task Force...

March 4, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 11 26 CAS/Armed Recon 46 37 83 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 35 35 Total 61 48 195 304 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance