A 12-term Congressman whose district includes McGuire AFB, N.J., says it is time for Congress to back off its retirement restriction on the C-5A, the oldest of the mammoth transports, and to allocate money in the 2008 defense spending bill for at least 10 more new C-17s. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) writes in an op-ed in The Hill, "The continuously high operational use of the past years has confirmed two things most mobility experts already knew: There is an ever-increasing demand for air mobility assets, and combatant commanders prefer to use the C-17 whenever possible because it's reliable and agile." A recent Senate hearing did nothing to resolve the C-5 vs. C-17 issue. The Air Force now believes that the cost for the C-5 modernization program has breached Nunn-McCurdy, while C-5 upgrade contractor Lockheed Martin has a different set of figures. Meanwhile, Saxton and others worry that no decision by this Congress will seal the fate of the C-17 production line.

The Governor of Montana doesn’t think it likely that the Air Force will reopen the runway at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., one of the options floated recently by the state’s Congressional delegation. Instead, Gov. Brian Schweitzer met this week with the...

Homeland Security has decided Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan would be a good spot for its Northern Border Air Wing and wants Air Force approval, according to the state’s Democratic Senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. DHS already...

Despite Air Force rejection of the idea on operational grounds, the just-passed 2008 defense policy bill still includes language that would direct the Air Force to conduct a “pilot program to study feasibility and advisability of commercial fee-for-serve air refueling,”...

Gen. John Corley on Oct. 2 officially took the reins of command for Air Combat Command from Gen. Ron Keys. At the change of command ceremony, Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said of Corley, “No matter how difficult the...

The Civil Air Patrol’s Board of Governors ousted Maj. Gen. Antonio J. Pineda as national commander in a teleconference vote Oct. 2, according to an Oct. 3 CAP release. The board had earlier suspended Pineda after it received a report...

The Washington Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing formally has entered classic associate status with the active duty 92nd ARW at Fairchild AFB, Wash. SSgt. Connie Bias reports that it is the first such association for ANG and Air...

The Air Force and Marine Corps collaborated on a surveillance system, called Angel Fire, that puts real-time, wide-angle imagery from aircraft directly in the hands of ground forces, but the Army prefers its own system, Constant Hawk, that Tom Vanden...

The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star medal to Col. William O’Donnell for his service as commander of the 386th Air Expeditionary Group in Kuwait, where he led a force of active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve...

In case you missed it, here is a report in the San Francisco Chronicle about the gaffe by the airport authority in Oakland, Calif. They wouldn’t let a planeload of marines into the passenger terminal during a two-hour layover on...

The Pentagon has identified the remains of two service members missing in action from the Vietnam War. A1C George W. Long of Medicine, Kan., and Army Capt. Warren R. Orr of Kewanee, Ill. The men were part of a C-130...

The innovative airmen of the 435th Munitions Squadron at Ramstein AB, Germany, are re-organizing to ensure their dwindling numbers are fully trained to maintain a wider assortment of weapons. The unit’s airmen earlier this year saved the Air Force mega-bucks...

Oct. 1, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 20 7 27 CAS/Armed Recon 66 41 107 Airlift 150 150 Air refueling 51 51 Total 86 48 201 335 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...