The Air Force announced Sept. 14 that SSgt. Bryan D. Berky of Melrose, Fla., died Sept. 12 near Bala Baluk, Afghanistan, of wounds he sustained from enemy fire during combat operations. Berky had deployed to Afghanistan from the 28th Civil...

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley struck a somber tone in his keynote address at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Monday. Warning that defense budgets will likely remain flat for years, Donley asserted that “we can’t expect to do everything and...

“We will have dollars” for a new bomber in the Fiscal 2011 budget, but it will probably be for research and development only, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told reporters after his speech at AFA’s Air & Space conference Monday....

“We’re close” to launching a new tanker competition, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told reporters Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. He said the new draft for proposals would be out “in a couple of weeks,” with the announcement...

The C-5M program is “doing pretty well” and “succeeding,” Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told reporters Monday, and he expects that the Reliability and Re-engining Program will go forward. Noting that Congress has voted to add more C-17s to the...

Boeing presented reporters at AFA's Air & Space Conference Monday with its own "spider chart" showing how its 777 tanker concept would be superior to Northrop Grumman's KC-30 offering. Rick Lemaster, Boeing's KC-X tanker program manager, displayed a chart with interconnected lines and circular patterns like a spider's intricate web similar to the so-called Northrop spider chart made famous during the last round of the tanker competition. According to Boeing, the KC-777 has greater fuel offload capability, cargo pallet capacity, passenger carriage, and patient carrying capacity than the KC-30. Lemaster said the KC-777 tanker would offer "significant more capability" than the KC-30 even though the two designs are roughly the same size. Boeing is waiting on DOD to issue the requirements for the restarted KC-X contest before committing to bidding a 777-based tanker versus competing its smaller 767 tanker model (see below). (Boeing briefing charts.)

Boeing is waiting on the Pentagon to issue the requirements for the forthcoming KC-X tanker competition, so the company still doesn’t know yet whether it will offer an aerial refueler based on its 767 or its larger 777 commercial aircraft....

Jack Pledger, head of Northrop Grumman’s infrared countermeasure business development, told reporters Monday at AFA’s Air and Space Conference that the delay in the KC-X tanker replacement program has prompted USAF to consider adding countermeasure pods to its legacy tanker...

A combined crew of active duty and Air Force Reserve Command airmen likely set 41 world records in a C-5M Super Galaxy Sept. 13, reports the 512th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, Del. The crew, comprising eight Reservists of the...

Northrop Grumman believes USAF’s cuts to its legacy fighter force and the gap before new fighters come on line will create a need to upgrade remaining legacy fighters to sustain them for the air sovereignty alert and destruction of enemy...

Until the World Trade Organization completes work on the Boeing-Airbus dispute—expected within four months—and releases it publicly, we may not have a full accounting. We reported earlier that US Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) says the WTO’s interim report sides with...

On Sept. 10, the full Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously agreed with the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill proposed by its defense panel, which opted to add funds for 10 additional C-17s and kill the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. Although the Senate appropriations bill contains no funds to continue production of the F-22 fighter—also killed in House spending bill—the lawmakers did include a provision to push forward with an export version, urging USAF to "start this effort" within funds appropriated for continued F-22 RDT&E. CongressDaily reports that a Senate aide calls this "a good next step," toward removing the Obey amendment that prohibits F-22 export. (Conference report)

The Air Force’s new unmanned aerial vehicle formal training unit at Holloman AFB, N.M., reached initial operational capability with the MQ-1 Predator UAV on Sept. 10. That moves USAF closer to its goal of shifting all formal training for both...

Hawker Beechcraft wants the Air Force to consider an attack variant of its T-6 trainer to fill the Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance aircraft role the service wants to fill within the next couple of years. Hawker announced last week that it...

The new commander of Air Forces Central, Lt. Gen. Mike Hostage, told airmen deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, that they are “fundamental and vital” to the AFCENT mission, from serving as the central transit facility and a major air refueling...

Langley AFB, Va., has joined with the city of Hampton to conduct a Joint Land Use Study and plans on Sept. 22 to co-host a citizen outreach meeting at the Hampton Convention Center to discuss the JLUS. Hampton, which has...

WAVY TV reports that the joint basing effort between Langley Air Force Base and Ft. Eustis in Virginia is progressing with the recent signing of an installation support memorandum of agreement by the Air Force and Army. Langley and Eustis...

Air Combat Command announced that an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle crashed at about 8:58 a.m. Sept. 11 at Holloman AFB, N.M. The UAV was assigned to the 432nd Wing headquartered at Creech AFB, Nev. It was engaged in a...

The National Museum of the US Air Force opens a special traveling exhibit Sept. 14 through Sept. 30 that showcases events surrounding the Berlin Airlift, which ended in September 1949. That exhibit, supported by the German Embassy and German Consulates...

The Library of Congress has acquired the touring exhibit comprising 60 large-format, black-and-white photographs that photographer Nicholas Price calls “Cleared Hot! An Exclusive and Personal Photographic Journey into the US Air Force.” Price spent 18 months, shooting some 8,000 photos,...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Sept. 10, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 29 27 56 11,165 CAS/Armed Recon 20 90 110 24,480 Airlift 148 148 33,432 Air refueling 54 54 12,008 Total 368 81,085 OIF=Operation Iraqi...