Five to be Fired:

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Air Force has decided to relieve from their commands at least five officers over the B-52 nuclear weapons incident in August. The action will affect officers at both Minot AFB, N.D., the base...

Where’s the Sanity?

According to a report in Flight International, Boeing has been soliciting the Army as a potential buyer for a C-17 revamped with short-takeoff-and-landing characteristics, the C-17B. Boeing has offered USAF the B model, which the company says would be able...

GPS Goes Up

Air Force Space Command’s 45th Space Wing and industry partners launched a Global Positioning System IIR-M satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II booster on Oct. 17. The Lockheed Martin-built GPS Block IIR-17M satellite features enhanced operations and navigation...

Build It, They Will Come

A bridge probably built by insurgents to smuggle munitions from Diyala Province to Baghdad fell on Oct. 15 under a barrage from USAF strike aircraft, according to a Multinational Force Iraq release. The Army’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team coordinated...

C-5 Lifts Hog to Georgia

Airmen at Eielson AFB, Alaska, partially dismantled and loaded the base’s last A-10 aircraft onto a C-5 airlifter for transport to the Museum of Aviation Flight and Technology Center at Robins AFB, Ga., earlier this month. An Oct. 17 release...

Lockheed Works Composite Cargo X-Plane

The Air Force Research Lab has given the green light to Lockheed Martin to build and demonstrate an X-plane that exhibits “innovative structural configurations and concepts to include advanced prototyping and composite technologies,” according to a company release. The venture...

At Its New Home

The Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Fighter Wing received its official activation at Langley AFB, Va., last week, formally marking the shift of the unit from its F-16 days at Richmond Airport in Sandston, Va. The Air Guard wing now...

Hamre Leads Policy Board:

Joining the ranks of individuals who provide Pentagon top leaders with independent advice on defense policy issues are John Hamre, former deputy defense secretary in the Clinton Administration; J.D. Crouch, former deputy National Security Advisor; Robert Joseph, former undersecretary of...

Enlisting Gallup’s Help:

The Gallup Organization will develop a psychological test that the Air Force hopes will help it identify young people with the requisite character and leadership ability to succeed in officer training programs, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. And, the...

Another NSPS Wrinkle:

Three Virginia lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, complaining about news that the employees now under the National Security Personnel System would not get an “across-the-board pay raise with other federal employees.” Government Executive reports that Rep. Tom Davis...

USAF, Chile Train Together:

More than 100 US active and reserve airmen are in Inquique, Chile, working with Chilean airmen in the first exercise employing Chile’s new F-16s, reports Capt. Sarah Schwennesen. Chile also flies F-5s so aspects of Exercise WILLKA will feature dissimilar...

No More Parasailing:

Undergraduate pilot trainees in Class 08-15 at Vance AFB, Okla., last week conducted the last parasailing training at the base, which this month converts to the new Air Education and Training Command syllabus, reports TSgt. Mary Davis. The base has...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Oct. 16, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 19 8 27 CAS/Armed Recon 49 31 80 Airlift 158 158 Air refueling 39 39 Total 68 39 197 304 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...