The Guard Super Hogs have Struck

The newly operational A-10Cs of the Maryland Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Squadron are now in Iraq flying combat missions, according to Lt. Col. Kevin Campbell. They dropped ordnance for the first time just last week, he told reporters at...

More Money

The Air Force needs at least $20 billion more each year to fund necessary recapitalization efforts more efficiently and to sustain rising operations and maintenance costs, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in...

Get Out of the Cockpit

Retired US Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and former vice chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking at the first public presentation for the Global Air Chiefs Conference, told the audience: “I will give you...

C-5 Troubles, Either Way:

The C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program is going to break the Nunn-McCurdy 15 percent cost overrun rule requiring a report to Congress, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said yesterday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington. The only...

Then What?:

When the C-5 RERP is declared in breach of the Nunn-McCurdy limit (see above), the Air Force then would have to decide what to do about it. There are two pieces of legislation that hamstring the Air Force. One says...

Air Supremacy is Assumed:

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne expressed frustration in his speech at AFA’s Air & Space Conference yesterday over the way airpower’s contributions in the war on terror are frequently glossed over. Air supremacy over the battlefield seems to be assumed,...

What’s the Dif?

Airmen attending the Command Chief Master Sergeants Forum Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington expressed some concern that the service was opting to use a “virtual release” to notify those on the November promotion lists, instead of...

Gunship JCA:

The Air Force is “very serious” about the Joint Cargo Aircraft, Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, told reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference yesterday. So serious, in fact, that it is considering not only a cargo mission for...

Progressing With Global Hawk

Northrop Grumman anticipates starting flight testing the Block 30 high-flying Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle before year’s end, so said Bill Walker, Northrop Grumman’s business and development manager for Global Hawk, Tuesday during AFA’s Air & Space Conference. He expects...

Attacking Alternative Energy

The Air Force’s focus on reducing energy consumption currently includes use of renewable energy methods at 37 of its 80 or so major installations, according to Kevin Billings, USAF’s deputy assistant secretary for environment, safety, and occupational health. Billings told...

“Rampant” PTSD:

Rep. Bob Filner, (D-Calif.), head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told attendees at AFA’s annual Air & Space Conference on Sept. 24 that soon after he became chairman, “we were hit by the Walter Reed [military hospital] scandal.” In...

“Veterans Adversary”:

Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference on Sept. 24, the head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), pointed out that next to DOD, Veterans Affairs is the second largest bureaucracy in the Administration. And, unfortunately,...

Learning from History:

The key to success in a coalition air campaign is unity of effort. That’s the message Richard Hallion, former chief Air Force historian and now Alfred Verville Fellow of the National Air and Space Museum, had for attendees at AFA’s...

Time Certain:

Technologies are mature enough to get an advanced bomber on the ramp by 2018 as the Air Force wants to do, Boeing Advanced Systems President George Muellner said yesterday. However, it better get cracking: To get an aircraft available by...

Drawdown Continues, But

Even though the plan to fund recapitalization of the Air Force by cutting 40,000 personnel “isn’t working,” there’s no plan to either stop the drawdown or go even deeper, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said yesterday afternoon. Wynne, at a...

Round Which for CSAR-X?

The Air Force will not simply “start over” with the snake-bit combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said yesterday afternoon at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. The program was won by Boeing’s HH-47 last...

Greasing the UAV Way

The recent decision not to give executive agency to the Air Force over higher flying unmanned aerial vehicles may actually make it easier for the service to get that status in the future, service chief Gen. Michael Moseley said yesterday...

Walking the Process

There is not much that can yet be said publicly about the recent “Bent Spear” incident in which airmen inadvertently loaded six nuclear-capable cruise missiles aboard a B-52 that flew from Minot AFB, N.D. to Barksdale AFB, La., because the...

He’s a Major Commander, Provisionally:

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne announced yesterday that Maj. Gen. William Lord has been nominated to serve as commander of the provisional Cyber Command, which is at Barksdale AFB, La., for the time being. Lord currently is serving as director...

In the Guard, Four Years Short—but Just A Little:

On Oct. 1, the Air National Guard is likely to fall short of its end strength target for the fourth consecutive year, Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley, ANG chief, said yesterday. The shortfall is minor, though—about one percent. McKinley said at...

The Guard Transformation Plan:

Now that the Air National Guard has its Quadrennial Defense Review and Base Realignment and Closure marching orders, it can visualize its future. “The ‘perfect storm’ is here,” said Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley, head of the Air National Guard, and...

Not Just a “Bumper Sticker” Reserve

Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Monday afternoon, Air Force Reserve Command boss Lt. Gen. John Bradley said he believes his command is making huge strides forward with the Total Force concept. “The ‘unrivaled wingman’ is not just a...

Burnout? Try BRAC-Out

The head of Air Force Reserve Command, Lt. Gen. John Bradley, told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that one of the most common misperceptions he has to deal with when speaking with lawmakers is that the high operations...

Strike Fighters for the Reserve:

Air Force Reserve Command will be establishing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter units at NAS JRB Forth Worth, Tex., and Homestead ARB, Fla.—with more expected in the future. So said AFRC boss Lt. Gen. John Bradley at AFA’s Air & Space...

What’s the Buzz About Checkmate?:

An article in the Sept. 23 The Sunday Times of London extends an unnecessary air of mystery about the Air Force’s revival of its Checkmate group, linking it to supposed secretive US military contingency planning for “a possible attack on...

Tarnak Farms Pilot Loses Lawsuit:

A US District Court judge has ruled in favor of the Air Force and against former Air National Guard pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt, who had claimed USAF violated privacy rules in revealing a letter of reprimand written about him following...

Disorientation Killed Pilot:

An accident investigation board has determined that spatial disorientation led to the death of Maj. Gregory Young in the F-15A crash off the coast of Arch Cape, Ore., on June 27. According to an Air Combat Command statement, Young, an...

Honoring Fallen Airman:

Airmen at Andersen AFB, Guam, held a special memorial last week to honor A1C Portica Beckton, who died on Sept. 9 while deployed to Kosovo when the vehicle in which she was riding rolled over. Beckton was a client support...

All Together Again:

The Air Force has ascribed the heritage of the 76th squadron that flew under the Flying Tigers banner in World War II to a new unit assigned to the 23rd Wing, transferring it from the 76th Space Control Squadron at...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Sept. 20-22, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 56 24 80 CAS/Armed Recon 145 128 273 Airlift 495 495 Air refueling 147 147 Total 201 152 642 995 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...