The Pentagon has released its annual Congressional report on China’s military power, noting that China’s continued military modernization and growth has ramifications well beyond the Taiwan Strait and now shows a significant focus on “modern information technology as a force-multiplier.”...

The Senate Armed Services Committee markup of the 2008 defense authorization bill like the House version would keep an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Unlike their House counterparts, Senate authorizers did not reduce the JSF research and...

Senate authorizers agreed to an across-the-board 3.5 percent military pay increase for the 2008 defense authorization bill; the House version contains a similar pay raise also agreed to put back the $1.9 billion the Pentagon would have cut from its...

An Air Force crew from Dyess AFB, Tex., last week dropped some 80,000 leaflets over Afghanistan, targeting known Taliban-inhabited areas. The last such drop—30,000 leaflets—was part of Operation Achilles in March. The Dyess C-130 aircrew made the drop at the...

The Air Force used the new Joint Precision Airdrop System with a C-17 airlifter for the first time, dropping 21,000 pounds of supplies using the JPADS screamer steerable parachutes to ground forces in Afghanistan. The 437th Airlift Wing airlift crew,...

The Missile Defense Agency called its planned long-range missile defense system test from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., a “no test” because the target vehicle “failed to reach the defended area,” states an MDA release. MDA chief, Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey...

Fourteen Air Force leaders from Africa met at Ramstein AB, Germany, last week for the first African Air Chiefs Conference, reports Capt. Joel Harper. Gen. Tom Hobbins, head of US Air Forces in Europe, said the goal of the conference...

The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins AFB, Ga., has two self-sufficient, 37-foot tractor-trailer combinations—dubbed War Wagons—that can deploy anywhere in the world to help make structural repairs on broken aircraft. They can drive within the US or be...

An Air Force accident investigation board has concluded that the pilot of a T-38C Talon that crashed in February inadvertently activated the front cockpit flap lever which fully extended the flaps while the trainer was traveling at 390 knots. An...

The first C-17 airlifter assigned to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and named the “Spirit of Hawaii Ke Aloha,” has been painted by renowned aviation artist Keith Ferris for the Air Force Art Collection. Boeing, maker of the C-17, and Pratt &...

Veterans Affairs plans to hire an additional 100 new employees to handle readjustment counseling for returning combat veterans. They will be assigned to some of the VA’s 209 community-based Vet Centers. These 100 are in addition to 100 new medical...

May 23-25, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 46 32 78 CAS/Armed Recon 164 111 275 Airlift 506 506 Air refueling 138 138 Total 210 143 644 997 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...