There are fighters to patrol North American skies, but they are not F-15 Eagles, the mainstay of the homeland air defense effort, because those aircraft remain grounded. Scott Lindlaw of Associated Press reports that NORAD officials have plugged the gaps,...

A Wall Street Journal editorial provides a cogent analysis of the situation facing the nation—not just the Air Force—with the extended grounding of the F-15 Eagle fleet. In discussion of the potential increase in orders for F-22s, the WSJ’s bottom...

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Maj. Stephen Stilwell, the Missouri Air National Guard pilot who escaped on Nov. 2 from his disintegrating F-15, the aircraft that started the extended Eagle stand-down, says a routine training flight like he’s flown...

The airmen of the 116th Expeditionary Air Command and Control Squadron deployed to Southwest Asia have amassed 37,000 combat flying hours, spanning 3,000 sorties. Currently the unit comprises four-plus E-8C Joint STARS ground radar aircraft, deployed from the joint Air...

If Andy Pasztor of the Wall Street Journal has received the right information, the Bush Administration will significantly reduce funding (requires subscription) for the Transformational Satellite Communications System in the Fiscal 2009 defense budget. Industry officials have told WSJ that...

The News Journal of Mansfield, Ohio, has labeled the salvation of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing one of its “Top 10 stories of 2007.” As the News Journal reports, the 179th AW was on the BRAC 2005...

In a new report, the Government Accountability Office finds that the reservists using Tricare Reserve Select in 2006 paid considerably more for their premiums than the plan provided in benefits. For instance in Tier 1, which includes 90 percent of...

Air Force Reserve Command recruiters have received a “Stevie” award, the “Oscar” of the business world. AFRC Recruiting Service, which has met its new enlistment goal for seven straight years, received the first “Recruitment/Staffing Sales Organization of the Year” award...

The Air Force’s provisional Cyber Command has launched its own Web site. The site includes statements about the importance of cyberspace (click on Library at the top of the page) and news releases from around the Air Force about cyber-related...

A team of 28 airmen and soldiers from Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras spent two days providing medical care to residents of Costa Rica. • Air Force Research Lab is teaming with several contractors for ground experiments under a program...

Dec. 24-26, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 64 21 85 CAS/Armed Recon 145 116 261 Airlift 441 441 Air refueling 113 113 Total 209 137 554 900 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...