Gen. Donald Hoffman, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, told AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando during a Friday panel on combat support that he wants to speed up some acquisition processes to get upgrades into the fight faster. He...

One of the main impressions that Gen. Donald Hoffman, USAF’s top weapons developer, brought back with him from his recent trip to Southwest Asia is that ingenuity is “alive and well” among airmen. Specifically, airmen at bases in the region,...

Gen. Stephen Lorenz, USAF’s top training official, wants his organization—Air Education and Training Command—to become even more adept at designing training programs in short order to meet the Air Force’s emerging needs. He told an audience Friday during a panel...

Gen. Bob Kehler presented a list of three top priorities for his command that was probably significantly different from how a comparable list would have looked a year ago. The commander of Air Force Space Command, in a Friday meeting...

Success in leadership is about how you treat people, CMSAF Rodney McKinley said Friday. “Care about your airmen; make sure they know you care,” he said at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. McKinley said all it takes are...

CMSAF Rodney McKinley will be leaving the Air Force this summer after 30 years of service, Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz announced Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. “Chief McKinley is an incomparable leader and...

Irregular warfare might be the 21st century norm for the United States, and cyber warfare might represent the epitome in irregular war, Gen. Bob Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, said Friday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium. “We are...

The Air Force could move the mobility missions currently performed out of Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan to one or multiple locations when the time comes to leave this summer, said Lt. Gen. Gary North in a Thursday night meeting...

The Air Force is already at workpreparing for the expanding US mission in Afghanstan, said US Central Command air boss Lt. Gen. Gary North in a Thursday night meeting with reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium. The Air Force is...

The Air Force’s combat tempo in Afghanistan has increased exponentially since 2006, the top airman in Southwest Asia told the audience at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium Thursday, and is expected to rise even more with the addition of 17,000 additional...

Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, speaking Thursday afternoon during a panel session on Afghanistan air operations at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, related how the presence of special operations teams—small teams working with foreign...

President Obama on Feb. 26 released his Fiscal 2010 base budget, including a $533.7 billion topline for the Department of Defense. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the figure “represents a nearly four percent increase over the FY...

Air Mobility Command has re-scrubbed the requirements for the KC-X tanker program, and they now lie in the hands of the Pentagon leadership, AMC chief Gen. Art Lichte told reporters Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. The previous...

It’s looking like the KC-135 fleet will need an expensive re-skinning circa 2018, Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Art Lichte said Thursday. The projection was actually made in 2000 by an independent study of airlifter longevity, but the study has...

The White House has said it wants to take nuclear weapons off a “hair trigger” status, but that’s not a meaningful analogy, US Strategic Command chief Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton told reporters Thursday in Orlando at AFA’s Air Warfare...

So said Gen. Kevin Chilton, US Strategic Command’s top official. Speaking Thursday to an audience at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., Chilton said the US military needs to do a lot more to ensure the security of its...

There seems to be some confusion over just when the Obama Administration must make the call on whether to continue production of the F-22 fighter force. Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that the final decision would not come until submission of the Fiscal 2010 defense budget, now set for mid-April. Almost everyone had considered the Congressionally directed March 1 date as the F-22 "go or no-go" deadline. Just last month, Pentagon boss Robert Gates told lawmakers that he wasn't concerned about the price tag going up as the Pentagon slowed release of funds for long-lead items because the Lockheed Martin estimates were good until March 16 by which time President Obama would have made his decision on the F-22's fate. Now, Morrell says he would "take issue with the characterization of "go or no-go" decision for March 1. On that day, he said, the Pentagon would have informed Congress of its intent to allocate the remainder of the long-lead funds. He added, "You will know when the FY '10 budget is rolled out where the F-22 program is going, but not until that point." (Morrell on F-22)

The Air Force military construction’s coffers are getting a boost this year thanks to the recently passed federal stimulus bill. Speaking Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the MILCON increase is...

As the US moves more forces into Afghanistan, Air Mobility Command is taking a fresh assessment of the infrastructure and basing arrangement needed to fly personnel, materiel, and fuel into the country, the command’s top airman told the audience at...

Asked for his perspective on the challenges facing US Africa Command’s 17th Air Force, US Air Forces in Europe Commander Gen. Roger Brady said that the Ramstein-based numbered air force’s biggest challenge is to get the right rated expertise in...

Pacific Air Forces Gen. Howie Chandler told the audience at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium Thursday that the investment in military construction on the island is progressing rapidly, and Andersen Air Force Base has finished rebuilding one of its runways and...

The two leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee have rolled out legislation intended to spur an overhaul of the Pentagon’s weapons buying process. It is dubbed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the...

Air Combat Command has dispatched some 250 airmen and four B-2 bombers from Whiteman AFB, Mo., to join the F-22 fighters currently deployed from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Andersen AFB, Guam. This marks the first time that the two stealth...

The House of Representatives now has competing legislation that addresses the issue of military recruiter access to information about high school students. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) is trying again to limit the ability of military recruiters to tap into personal...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaFeb. 24, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 28 18 46 2,157 CAS/Armed Recon 26 73 99 5,546 Airlift 120 120 7,028 Air refueling 48 48 2,552 Total 313 17,283...