Providing close air support to coalition ground forces engaged against terrorists near Samara, Iraq, on Aug. 2, coalition strike aircraft killed senior al Qaeda terrorist Haitham Sbah al Badri and three others, one a foreign fighter, per Multi-National Force Iraq...

The Montana Air National Guard’s 120th Fighter Wing at Great Falls has a spokesman talking with area residents, trying to respond to their concerns about the unit’s switch from F-16s to F-15s. The Great Falls Tribune reports that the word...

Some airmen deployed to the desert from the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., experienced their first combat airdrop mission over Iraq during the weekend, reports Capt. Teresa Sullivan. Some were on their fifth or more deployments and had...

Congressmen on Sunday morning passed the 2008 defense appropriations bill by a vote of 395 to 13, just squeezing it in before heading off for their August recess. The measure provides funding for 20 F-22 Raptors and 12 F-35 Joint...

Before leaving for the August break, Senators confirmed several flag officers for varied posts, including Adm. Michael Mullen to be Joint Chiefs Chairman and Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright to be his vice. The Senate also confirmed several Air Force...

The Government Accountability Office last week issued a summary of earlier findings—this time providing a copy of Congressional briefing slides—that assessed whether DOD had made any progress in adopting acquisition “best practices” for the Transformational Satellite Communication System and Space...

The 12th Secretary of the Air Force, John C. Stetson died Aug. 2 at his home in Lake Forest, Ill. Stetson served as Secretary from June 1978 to May 1979. He graduated from MIT with a degree in aeronautical engineering...

Retired Maj. Gen. Sidney S. Novaresi, who began his career as a National Guard private in 1939 and ended as commander of 4th Air Force when it was at McClellan AFB, Calif., died July 22 in Citrus Heights, Calif., after...

The Defense Department confirmed that TSgt. Joey D. Link, 29, of Portland, Tenn., died of natural causes on Aug. 5 at a military hospital in Germany. Link was assigned to the 39th Airlift Squadron at Dyess AFB, Tex., but he...

The New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing continues its longstanding and unique mission—supplying scientists working on the ice, whether it’s Greenland or the South Pole. Recently, TSgt. Mike R. Smith reports that they served as the only supply...

The annual Harris Poll measuring public perceptions of 23 professions and occupations indicates that 52 percent of Americans think military officers have “very great” prestige. Harris Interactive interviewed a sample of 1,010 adults via telephone in July, and the poll...

Some readers tell us that the M-61 20 mm Vulcan cannon fires about 6,000 rounds per minute not second—that’s a big difference.

Aug. 3-4, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 36 17 53 CAS/Armed Recon 101 80 181 Airlift 277 277 Air refueling 99 99 Total 137 97 376 610 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...