The Air Force’s MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle force amassed 150,000 combat flight hours over the last 14 months, eclipsing the 250,000 hours the Predator had accumulated by June 2007 in its first 12 years of operation. According to an...

The Air National Guard’s three operational MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle units in Arizona, California, and North Dakota are providing at least seven overseas combat air patrols around the clock for operations in Southwest Asia. Under the Air Force’s initial...

The Air Force remains on track to announce the winner of its combat search and rescue helicopter contest this fall, Maj. Gen. David “Scott” Gray, director of Global Reach Programs in the Air Force’s acquisition shop, said yesterday. “We have...

With the Democratic (Denver) and Republican (Minneapolis/St. Paul) national conventions almost here, the Continental US NORAD Region has been working with the Secret Service and FAA to reduce potential airspace violations. CONR has developed posters for public and private airports...

Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in an Aug. 18 appearance at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Florida, spoke of some of the Air Force actions in the war on terror, including the use of satellites and...

The airmen of the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron, recently completed the unit’s 2,500th combat sortie flying the EC-130H Compass Call for Operation Iraqi Freedom, ably supported by the 386th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s Silver team, which covers the electronic...

Lockheed Martin has just completed assembly of the fourth F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, an F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing variant, according to an Aug. 18 company release. Dan Crowley, Lockheed’s executive vice president and F-35 general manager,...

CMSAF Rodney McKinley told airmen at Goodfellow AFB, Tex., last week that airmen across the force “are doing an incredible job.” That said, he urged, as has the Air Force’s new top leadership, a renewed focus on the nuclear mission....

Air Force Reserve Command’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler AFB, Miss., has sent a couple of its Hurricane Hunter WC-130J Hercules aircraft to Andersen AFB, Guam, to participate in tropical cyclone research project with US Navy researchers. For Tropical...

Following a call at 2 a.m., SSgt. Ray Stetler, deployed to Ali Base, Iraq, with the 407th Expeditionary Communications Squadron, resolved an urgent work order to provide a secure voice connection between an MQ-1 Predator pilot deployed to Iraq and...