The Air Force issued a statement yesterday emphasizing the rigorous process it has in place to select a KC-135 tanker replacement aircraft, noting that the evaluation team comprises “a broad spectrum of acquisition and operational professionals.” The service “hand-picked” some 150 experts, according to Terry Kasten, director of the unit at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, responsible for the KC-X acquisition program, to scrub the contractor proposals—Boeing’s KC-767 and Northrop Grumman-EADS KC-30—and to conduct a legal review. Once they are done, their conclusions will go through an independent advisory council assessment before leading to a source selection authority decision and approval from the Defense Acquisition Board. Kasten also says he has “a direct line to senior Air Force legal and contracting advisors” that will help his team “ensure we do everything by the book.” After the failed Boeing tanker lease deal, the Air Force is under the gun to make this work. (For background: The Tanker Blame Game) USAF’s Program Executive Officer for Aircraft, Lt. Gen. Jack Hudson, noted that Air Force leadership has “ensured we proceed in a deliberate and transparent manner, every step of the way.”

Air Mobility Command had to rush delivery of 21 parts from eight different stateside bases to Southwest Asia to repair 14 C-130 tactical airlifters damaged in microburst winds that turned the air brown with sand and rocks, according to SMSgt....

The Air Force sent a team from Charleston AFB, S.C., to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., to train a select group of airmen how to load C-17 airlifters so they can serve as loadmaster augmentees should the service need them. According to...

Air Force officials told the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors May 4 that the school’s new class will not reach minority recruiting goals and that future classes could face an even more daunting challenge if DOD eliminates academic waivers....

The Air Force’s Force Shaping Board, which met March 12, identified 1,347 out of 1,626 officers in the 2004 and 2003 year groups to separate from the Air Force by Sept. 29, 2007. A May 7 release states that the...

Another four officer year groups face a Reduction in Force board slated to meet June 11-29. As of May 4, the Air Force says it must involuntarily separate 459 officers—down from about 600 officers in March—by Jan. 29, 2008. By...

Airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 944th Medical Squadron at Luke AFB, Ariz., just returned from a humanitarian mission, seeing more than 3,700 patients in six days. The demand for their attention was high because in Morocco, the location of...

Air Force Reserve Command’s 939th Air Refueling Wing in Portland, Ore., inactivated three of its units on May 6, beginning the BRAC 2005-directed shutdown of the wing, which has operated at Portland since 1963. AFRC has advanced the wing’s closure...

The Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol last week recognized one of its oldest members—CAP Lt. Col. Benjamin Stone—with the CAP Distinguished Service Medal. The CAP also promoted the 93-year-old airman to full colonel. Stone, who has been part of...

Airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, have begun using the Air Force’s new Patient Loading System. Air Mobility Command developed the PLS to facilitate use of aircraft without loading ramps, such as the KC-135...

May 4-5, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 38 19 57 CAS/Armed Recon 95 81 176 Airlift 320 320 Air refueling 84 84 Total 133 100 404 637 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...