Retention Hangs Tough

According to the latest Pentagon data, retention for active and reserve components remained strong for the month of March. Recruiting for the active forces also was on track, with all the services making at least 100 percent of their goals....

Revamped Hogs Off to SWA Soon

The Air Force expects the A-10 fleet to see service through 2028, once each Warthog has undergone the precision engagement technology upgrade at the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah. Air Force Materiel Command and Air Combat Command...

A-Sat Fallout, Piece by Piece

Among the concerns created by China’s January test of an anti-satellite capability is the threat posed by the debris it caused. The head of US Strategic Command, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, testified last month that earlier tests conducted by...

The Iran Problem

Just for the record, Air Force officials insist they have not been tasked to offer any options for a potential strike on Iran should that country remain intransigent against international demands to curtail its uranium enrichment program. However, one senior...

A Composite Material Airlifter?

The Air Force Research Lab’s Air Vehicles Directorate has received an “intent to propose” from several contractors who are interested in pursuing design, development, and manufacture of an Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft flight demonstrator. Project Manager Barth Shenk told the...

Not Really Pie in the Sky

The Air Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Lab wants to get a handle on the technologies needed for a proposed Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (see above) before “working to a specific set of requirements,” Barth Shenk, project manager,...

What’s Next?

If all stays on track, the Air Force technical community could see an advanced composite cargo aircraft flight demonstrator (see above) by Sept. 30, 2008. Barth Shenk, program manager, told us earlier this week, that AFRL’s Air Vehicles Directorate is...

XCOR Tapped for RLV

The Air Force has contracted with XCOR Aerospace to “design and analyze a rocket-powered vehicle, which will reach 200,000 feet altitude and supersonic speeds” under its Operationally Responsive Space program, according to a company release. For the public-private venture, XCOR...

Casey Takes Army

Gen. George Casey Jr. took over as Army Chief of Staff from Gen. Peter Schoomaker, who gets to retire for the second time, during a change of command ceremony Tuesday at Ft. Myer, Va. (Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recalled...

The National and Tactical Platform

The Air Force’s RC-135 Rivet Joint platforms continue to provide a constant presence in Southwest Asia—earlier this year they racked up 6,000 days—and fulfill both national and tactical mission requirements, reports Capt. West Ticer. Among its capabilities, Rivet Joint mission...

C-130 AMP Breached Nunn-McCurdy:

The Pentagon’s latest selected acquisition report—for the December 2006 reporting period—shows that the Air Force’s C-130 avionics modernization program did increase in cost—by some 21 percent—as USAF predicted. The rise, per the SAR release, was due “primarily to increases in...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

April 8, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 19 11 30 CAS/Armed Recon 64 31 95 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 45 45 Total 83 42 205 330 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...