Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday the decisions on the F-22 in the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2009 spending request reflect his desire to retain the option for the next Administration to decide the fate of the stealth aircraft’s production line. “My...

The Air Force says it isn’t certain at the moment what the projected date is for the first launch of a Transformational Satellite Communications spacecraft. Around this time last year, as USAF presented its Fiscal 2008 spending proposal, the service...

Australia will have access to 10 percent of the total communications bandwidth capacity provided by the Air Force’s first Wideband Global SATCOM satellite that is now on orbit and being prepared to assume operations, according to a USAF official. “Eventually...

Officials involved in the joint DOD-intelligence community space radar initiative still have a ways to go to work out the kinks and arrive at a plan to which they and Congress can agree. “We are working very hard with Congress...

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley will visit with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s defense forces tomorrow to discuss what USAF has learned about structural problems with the F-15A-D fleet. The Saudi air force flies about 170 F-15s, of...

The Navy portion of the Pentagon’s FY’09 budget request is the largest chunk among the services. It amounts to $149.3 billion, including $24.9 billion for the Marine Corps, which equates to 29 percent of DOD’s overall $515.4 billion proposal. The Air Force comes in a close second with a blue and non-blue total of $143.9 billion, equating to a 28 percent share of the total budget. However, remember USAF's discretionary or blue budget is $117 billion. The Army portion for 2009 at $140.7 billion or 27 percent of the total shows the largest overall increase, about 9.6 percent more than the previous year. Defense-wide expenditures lie at $81.6 billion (16 percent). DOD divides the total budget proposal into four major accounts, requesting 35 percent of the total for strategic modernization; 31 percent for operations, readiness, and support; 29 percent for military pay and healthcare; and five percent for family housing and facilities.

The Defense Department’s $515.4 billion baseline budget proposal for Fiscal 2009 is $35.9 billion greater, or 7.5 percent more, than the Pentagon’s enacted appropriations in Fiscal 2008. That’s 5.5 percent growth in real terms, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said...

DOD has increased its investment in future combat capabilities in its Fiscal 2009 budget request by $10.5 billion compared to this fiscal year’s amount, according to Vice Adm. Steve Stanley, the Joint Staff’s director of force structure, resources, and assessment....

The Defense Department wants $20.5 billion in Fiscal 2009 to continue expanding the size of the Army and Marine Corps. In Fiscal 2009, the Army would add 7,000 active duty soldiers to its rolls, increasing its end strength to 532,400...

An E-3 AWACS command and control aircraft participating in Cope Tiger in the Pacific couldn’t complete an aerial refueling with a KC-135 because of bad weather, but instead of canceling its mission, the E-3 crew flew back to Korat RTAB,...

Personnel at Edwards AFB, Calif., found Col. Bryan J. Gallagher unconscious in a base fitness center parking lot early Tuesday morning, according to a base release. Efforts to revive the colonel, who had commanded the 95th Air Base Wing since...

Feb. 5, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 21 10 31 915 CAS/Armed Recon 66 17 83 2,909 Airlift 113 113 4,294 Air refueling 46 46 1,387 Total 273 9,505 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...