The Air Force announced Friday morning that its preferred location to host 24th Air Force, the new numbered air force that will focus on the cyberspace mission, is Lackland AFB, Tex. Lackland was one of six prospective locations announced in January. The service decided last fall that it would place the new NAF, which has operated provisionally at Barksdale AFB, La., under Air Force Space Command, headquartered at Peterson AFB, Colo. According to the May 15 announcement, USAF completed site surveys on March 6. The surveys, said Kathleen Ferguson, deputy secretary of the Air Force for installations, used "previously approved criteria to gather information, assess capabilities, and refine initial data to thoroughly evaluate all candidate locations." Among the considerations for selecting the site was proximity to other cyber operational missions and communications bandwidth capabilities, as well as infrastructure and support capacity. The Air Force must still complete an environmental impact analysis before making the selection final, which it expect to do this summer. The service already is under fire from Nebraska elected and community officials, who felt its selection of Barksdale as the site for the new Air Force Global Strike Command was faulty, at best. Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska also was in the running for 24th AF.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates maintains that the 2010 defense budget proposal does not cut the F-22 Raptor force, instead he told lawmakers May 13 during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, that the Pentagon is merely “completing the program of...

At least one Senator expects to hear Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz state his preference for 60 more F-22s during Congressional hearings. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), vocal F-22 supporter, said Wednesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense...

Lawmakers criticized Defense Secretary Robert Gates during the May 13 House Armed Services Committee hearing over a perception that his 2010 budget proposal lacked analysis and transparency. Still, many praised Gates’ work to reorient the US military, including committee chairman...

Whether or not there will be a fighter gap—for the Air Force, Navy, and Air National Guard—is a matter for the just-commenced Quadrennial Defense Review, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the House Armed Services Committee May 13. Rep. Frank LoBiondo...

The Air Force is hoping to buy “not less than 80” F-35s per year at the presently planned maximum rate, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Wednesday at a Pentagon press conference . Over the future years defense plan,...

The Air Force’s tactical aviation plan—terminating the F-22, early retirement of 250 fighters, continuing the F-35, and modifying older fighters—reflects a judgment that the service can “take some additional strategic risk for roughly the next six to seven years,” service...

This year’s Air Force “unfunded priorities list (UPL),” annually prepared to let Congress know where the Air Force would put any additional, unrequested funds, would not feature any “new starts” or indeed anything that isn’t already in the official budget,...

Look for a new Air Force bomber “early in the 2020 decade,” chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said yesterday. He termed the operational date a “hunch,” and as being the delay price paid for terminating the next-generation bomber program,...

The proposed reduction in the number of C-27 Spartan Joint Cargo Aircraft from 78 to 38 has to do with a surfeit of C-130 Hercules theater airlifters, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Pentagon boss told lawmakers during a...

May 11-12, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 54 38 92 5,255 CAS/Armed Recon 53 149 202 12,901 Airlift 300 300 17,924 Air refueling 97 97 5,824 Total 691 41,904 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...