Farewell Chief McKinley

CMSAF Rodney McKinley stepped down from his post as USAF’s top enlisted leader yesterday during a ceremony at Bolling AFB, D.C. McKinley, who is the 15th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, formally will retire from the Air Force...

Not Your Father’s Radar

Airmen at Thule AB, Greenland, on the night of June 23 into the morning of June 24, completed the first shift with the upgraded early warning radar there equipped with new software that makes it better able to support the...

Tying Strike Eagles Into the Network

Boeing announced Monday that it has connected the F-15E mission training center at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, to the Air Force’s distributed mission operations network, thereby enabling Mountain Home’s Strike Eagle pilots, for the first time, to be able to...

Countdown to Reaper Operations

The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field in Syracuse will begin MQ-9 Reaper combat air patrols already in November, although it will not shed its final F-16s until March 2010. The wing is the first...

Getting on the Fence

The Air Force last month awarded $30 million contracts each to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon for phase A concept development work on the proposed upgrade to the Air Force space surveillance system, a string of ground-based space-surveillance radars...

Getting an Inside Job

Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research in Wichita, Kan., is helping the Air Force assess the structural viability of the KC-135 tanker fleet and whether these Eisenhower-era airframes really have enough life left in them to last out...

First MALD for Operational Testing

Raytheon last month delivered the first miniature air launched decoy (MALD) production unit to the Air Force that will be used in the decoy’s upcoming initial operational test and evaluation phase. “The delivery of the first IOT&E unit means the...

Sijan Award Recipients Named

The Air Force announced yesterday the four recipients of the 2008 Lance P. Sijan Air Force Leadership Award. They are: Maj. James Hughes Jr., assigned to Bolling AFB, D.C., senior officer category; Capt. Thomas Eckel, Eglin AFB, Fla., junior officer...

A Lasting Partnership

Husband and wife MSgt. Scotty Fogle and MSgt. Dana Fogle stood together at Hangar 1040 on the grounds of Sheppard AFB, Tex., on June 19 and re-upped for five more years during a dual re-enlistment ceremony. Each has already serviced...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJune 27, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 21 20 41 7,283 CAS/Armed Recon 16 70 86 17,190 Airlift 140 140 24,291 Air refueling 49 49 8,066 Total 316 56,830...