The Air Force does not plan to split the initial contract for 179 replacement tankers between offerors Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS, per the service’s top acquisition official and her military deputy. Sue Payton told the Financial Times that the Air...

As we noted in June, the Air Force does plan to buy replacement tankers in three increments—the KC-X contract award will cover the first increment of 179 tankers, replacing the very oldest KC-135s in the fleet. Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman,...

The tanker roadmap laid out for Congressmen last week (see above) calls for USAF to retain its youngest KC-135Rs until 2043, or until they are about 86 years old. That will demand three major capability upgrades before 2015 and a...

That is the sentiment expressed by Rep. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.) during a pep rally at the Boeing 767 plant in Everett, Wash., where Boeing would produce the airframes should it win the KC-X tanker replacement program contract. Dicks and other...

Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles will soon be flying three times a week at Beale AFB, Calif., Ed Walby of Northrop Grumman said in Washington Tuesday. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale currently flies the Global Hawk twice a...

A just-released DOD Inspector General report cites three Air Force officers—two named and one whose name is blacked out—along with four Army officers for their actions that "improperly endorsed" a promotional video for Christian Embassy. The named Air Force officers are Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, who retired Aug. 1, and Maj. Gen. Jack Catton, who retires Jan. 1, 2008. According to the report, the officers participated in uniform and in ways that signified official endorsement of the promotional video. DOD civilians who participated in the video project were exonerated from wrongdoing because they did not refer to their positions or appear in recognizable parts of the Pentagon, where the video-taping was done. In response to the IG findings, Sutton "accepted responsibility" for his actions and vowed to "be more alert to ethical issues," noting though that he had participated in "good faith" that the video project had received official approval. Catton maintained that DOD itself had "violated the [Joint Ethics Regulation] by endorsing Christian Embassy's ministry to general officers for over 25 years." Catton also noted that the project had been approved by DOD Public Affairs.

The Air Force’s military deputy for acquisition, Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, told a Washington industry symposium Tuesday that the Air Force is working to streamline operations for its unmanned aerial vehicles. Currently the Air Force has one UAV pilot console...

The Washington Air National Guard’s 262nd Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron is perhaps the quintessential outfit for meeting a cyberthreat, considering it draws its airmen from among some of the giants in the computer world, namely Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems,...

The Air Force has awarded Bronze Stars to three airmen at Whiteman AFB, Mo., for their efforts while deployed to Southwest Asia. Capt. Adam Minnich served as a flight commander for supply chain management, leading development of Afghanistan’s first fuel...

Reporter Stephanie Heinatz with the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Va. offers a glimpse into the style of Gen. Ron Keys, the boss of Air Combat Command, who is retiring this fall after more than 40 years service in this...

Aug. 5-6, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 29 21 50 CAS/Armed Recon 107 71 178 Airlift 290 290 Air refueling 95 95 Total 136 92 385 613 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...