Gen. Ron Keys, head of Air Combat Command, says he “very proud” of the 55th Wing maintainers who haven’t yet failed to send an aircraft off on its mission. This is the unit whose RC-135 Rivet Joints have amassed more...

One solution to the Air Force’s budget dilemma—the one forcing it to sacrifice airmen for aircraft and to defer some critical modernization efforts—is to direct attention to its mobility forces because they are most critical to ground missions, so said...

Gov. Edward Rendell gathered senior members of his staff to meet with some Pennsylvanians who Rendell believes “misunderstood our plans” to save NAS JRB Willow Grove. Folks in Horsham Township had expressed displeasure after Rendell rolled out his plan last...

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) believes the Air National Guard failed to follow through on a three-year-old declaration to improve flying safety practices in New Jersey. Lautenberg called on Guard officials to meet with him Monday in Washington to discuss the situation following the fire caused by a New Jersey ANG F-16 that burned thousands of acres and put many residents out of their homes. In a statement, the Senator said, “It’s time for accountability.” Three years ago, a District of Columbia ANG F-16 strafed a New Jersey school three miles away from the Warren Grove Gunnery Range; it was after hours and none of the custodial staff was injured. Lautenberg maintained that the fire “never should have started,” and said he needed “to meet with these generals face to face to get firm commitments on improving safety, training, operations, and chain of command at the range.”

The Air Force has dispatched the last of the Block 10 U-2 high-flying reconnaissance airplanes to be made over into the Block 20 configuration. Technicians at Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale facility will transform the U-2, tearing it down to “its ribs...

The Florida Air National Guard plans a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 1 to formally open the new state of the art, $30 million air operations center at Tyndall AFB, Fla. The ANG’s 601st Air Operations Group will manage the...

The last three MH-53M Pave Low helicopters flew out of Kirtland AFB, N.M., headed for the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., on Monday. The Albuquerque Tribune reports that it was an emotional departure for members of the now-deactivated 551st Special...

Air Force Materiel Command has folded the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, better known as the Boneyard, into its “operational” reorganization structure, renaming AMARC as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. The new group, which still will operate at...

A three-member panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 18 overturned a ruling by a single District Court judge, saying the Pentagon could proceed with its implementation of the National Security Personnel...

May 17-19, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 40 28 68 CAS/Armed Recon 139 195 334 Airlift 468 468 Air refueling 152 152 Total 179 223 620 1,022 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...