The New Way of Herk Ops

The active duty and reserve components are mixing and matching C-130 Hercules units and airmen in new ways, including forming the first active associate Herk unit with the newly relocated Air Force Reserve Command 440th Airlift Wing at Pope AFB,...

Misunderstanding in Connecticut

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) has bought into the argument that a shift of control of the Joint Cargo Aircraft program from the Army-Air Force to the Air Force alone would delay delivery of the new aircraft. The Courant reports that...

Behind the Reaper

Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, was the brains behind the quick operational fielding of the new MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle. Laura McGowan reports that ASC working with Air Combat Command accelerated fielding the new UAV by...

McGuire, Local Colleges Join in Cultural Ed

An arrangement spawned between then commander of McGuire AFB, N.J., Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), and the presidents of Burlington County College and Thomas Edison State College is aiding the Air Force effort to indoctrinate airmen in currently relevant foreign language...

Now the Ceremony

Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton officially took charge of US Strategic Command on Oct. 3, but DOD held the command transfer ceremony at Offutt AFB, Neb., Oct. 17 after Defense Secretary Robert Gates returned from recent travels. Donna Miles reports...

Airlift for the Future?

Air Mobility Command has been asking EADS about its huge Airbus A380 as a potential Air Force One-class VIP transport or C-5 freighter replacement, reports Flight International. The journal says the AMC feelers “may be linked” to the problems with...

MP-RTIP Not Dead?

Northrop Grumman says it is “actively pursuing” options to develop a multi-platform radar technology insertion program radar with USAF, which had to end MP-RTIP development when it cancelled the E-10 program for lack of money. The Air Force has continued...

A Matter of 13 Acres:

The Air Force wants to change the security footprint at Travis AFB, Calif., and to do so it has served legal papers invoking eminent domain to take 13 acres from Bill Maher. It plans to pay the 80-year-old rancher $261,000...

A Leg Up for Beale?:

The new chairman of the Air Combat Command Commander’s Group, comprising 21 key community representatives, is the representative from the military liaison committee for Beale AFB, Calif. Ron Bartoli is the president of the Beale committee and has been active...

Former Weather Service Commander Dies:

Retired Maj. Gen. Harold H. Bassett died Oct. 4 in San Antonio at age 100. Born in 1907 in Albion, Ill., Basset graduated from West Point in 1929. In the Army Air Corps, he commanded one of the first weather...

Vietnam War POW Lilly Dies:

Retired Col. Warren “Bob” Lilly, 74, died Oct. 12 in Alabama. Lilly was a rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and was shot down in 1965. He spent seven years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, alongside Sen....

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Oct. 15, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 21 9 30 CAS/Armed Recon 51 33 84 Airlift 158 158 Air refueling 38 38 Total 72 42 196 310 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...