Air Power is Surging Too

“The numbers are going up, and the effect is significant,” said Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff, offering a blunt overview of the airpower trend in the US Central Command area of responsibility. Talking with defense reporters in...

The U-2 and Korea

“We have said we will replace these [U-2 spy planes] with the Global Hawk [unmanned aerial vehicle], and we will,” Gen. Michael Moseley told Washington-based defense reporters Tuesday. The Global Hawk needs to be ready to take over the mission...

The Mega Billion Cost of Recapitalization

Discussing the difficulty the Air Force faces in recapitalizing its force, Gen. Michael Moseley told defense reporters, “I’ve asked for $45 billion more dollars.” This is no surprise, since $45 billion is the total the service asked for in the...

Chinese Airpower

China is in the midst of an impressive buildup of modern air power capabilities, including both advanced new airframes and missiles to arm them with, Gen. Michael Moseley told defense reporters in Washington Tuesday morning. The Chief of Staff described...

Some Good News for USAF

The 2007 war supplemental bill agreed to by House and Senate conferees includes the five C-130J tactical airlifters the Air Force wanted—and DOD dropped at one point—to offset C-130s lost through war usage. The $124.2 billion supplemental doesn’t have the...

Another Transportation Challenge

The avionics maintenance airmen supporting F-15E operations being flown out of Bagram AB, Afghanistan, had to work out a new process to get the aircraft equipment needing servicing from Bagram to an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia where the airmen...

AFRICOM Evolving

Pentagon policy chief, Ryan Henry, and friends from the State Department and USAID for Africa, briefed reporters April 23 on their discussions with officials in several African countries about the new Africa Command. According to Henry, the visit to Africa...

New CAS Unit Keeps Busy:

The Air Force just activated the 438th Air Expeditionary Group in January, but the unit, which flies out of Al Asad AB, Iraq, has already flown 800 combat sorties with its A-10 Warthogs alone, reports Capt. Ken Hall and MSgt....

Let’s Be Partners:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that his discussions with Russian officials, including President Vladmir Putin, had a “very positive tone.” However, although he believes the discussion helped clear up some misunderstanding about the US plan to position missile defense systems...

Minotaur Launches NFIRE:

The Missile Defense Agency says that an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I boosted the agency’s research satellite, the Near Field Infrared Experiment, into orbit from Wallops Island, Va., at 2:49 a.m. Tuesday. The NFIRE has two payloads: The Track Sensor Payload...

Youngstown Buildup Begins:

Air Force Reserve Command has started work on the $7.5 million first phase of a four-phase $34.5 million lodging project at Youngstown ARS, Ohio, reports the Vindicator (requires free sign-in). The facility is home to AFRC’s 910th Airlift Wing and...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

April 21, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 9 24 CAS/Armed Recon 64 52 116 Airlift 155 155 Air refueling 43 43 Total 79 61 198 338 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...