Airman Dies in Iraq:

The Pentagon announced March 5 that SSgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, of Waukesha, Wis., was killed March 3 in the crash of an Iraqi Army Mi-17 helicopter near Bayji, Iraq. Frost was a public affairs specialist deployed to Iraq from...

Moving Up, Updated

Originally scheduled for next week, the Air Force said Wednesday it would now provide Boeing on March 7 with a thorough debrief covering how its KC-767 was rated in the Air Force’s KC-X source-selection evaluation. (UPDATE: On Wednesday evening, Air...

Game Face

Reiterating the stance made Feb. 29 in announcing the Northrop Grumman/EADS team as the winner in the KC-X tanker competition, Air Force acquisition executive Sue Payton said Wednesday that the company’s bid was clearly the best. “Northrop Grumman brought their...

Weighing In

Members on both sides of the political aisle in the House Appropriations defense subcommittee said Wednesday they want to look carefully at the Air Force’s KC-X tanker decision to see if lies in the best interests of the country, given...

The C-17 Requirement Goal Posts

At Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Air Force’s Fiscal 2009 budget proposal and unfunded requirements list, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman, asked why the service put 15 C-17s on the URL rather than in the baseline budget...

An “Evolutionary” Bomber:

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who has a stake in the Air Force’s plans to field a next generation bomber since Ellsworth Air Force Base in his state is on the service’s roadmap of likely beddown locations, expressed concern whether USAF...

No. 1 Priority for CFACC

Testers at Air Combat Command’s 53rd Wing, Eglin AFB, Fla., recently combined upgrade testing and Sniper targeting pod training utilizing a borrowed B-1B from Dyess AFB, Tex. Wing personnel conducted a Tail Warning Function Spiral 2 force development evaluation to...

Be Prompt

The US military’s in-depth look at non-nuclear options circa 2020 for striking high-value targets quickly virtually anywhere on the globe is being briefed up the Pentagon’s leadership chain, Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of US Strategic Command, told defense...

Cyber Command Location Due December:

At Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the new Air Force budget proposal, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne revealed that USAF now expects to reveal a location for the new Air Force Cyber Command in December. Last month officials...

JTACs Train on Gateway

Lt. Gen. Gary North, US Air Forces Central boss, directed the experts at Shaw AFB, N.C., to host a training event for some 20 soon-to-deploy Air Force joint terminal attack controllers from various units on the new mobile Air Support...

Berlin Airlift Pilot, ANG Wing Commander Dies

Retired Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Stanley Hemstreet, former commander of the New York ANG’s 109th Airlift Wing and the man who piloted the first airlifter to arrive in Berlin during the 1961 call-up of reserve forces, died Jan. 20....

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest Asia

March 4, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 25 9 34 1,648 CAS/Armed Recon 64 42 106 5,094 Airlift 147 147 7,584 Air refueling 47 47 2,397 Total 334 16,723 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...