Lightning Bargains

Lockheed Martin will likely quote a price for the fourth production lot of F-35 strike fighters that is “about 20 percent below” the estimate developed by the Pentagon’s cost assessment and program evaluation group, company CEO Bob Stevens told reporters...

Gates Not Troubled by Potential Widebody Gap

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he’s not concerned by a potential production gap in US military widebody aircraft once Boeing’s C-17 production line closes. “There is significant [commercial] wide-body aircraft production capability in the United States, and we have...

No Desire to Convert Silos or Tubes

The provision in the New START Treaty that would prohibit both the US and Russia from housing ballistic missile defense interceptors in converted ICBM silos or strategic nuclear submarine launch tubes does not impede US missile defense plans, senior Defense...

Red Flag-Alaska Underway

The latest iteration of Red Flag-Alaska, the Air Force-sponsored combined, large-scale air combat exercise, kicked off earlier this week at the Joint-Alaska Pacific Range Complex in the eastern portion of the state. RF-A 10-3 runs through June 25, It is...

Squeezing In Two More Shots

Lockheed Martin’s “Skunkworks” operation has figured out a way to increase the F-35’s air-to-air magazine by 50 percent, company officials told the Daily Report Thursday. With “very modest” changes to the weapon bay and “no changes to the outer mold...

Lockheed Claims Gen 5 at Gen 4 Price

The F-35 will ultimately match the prices of F/A-18 Super Hornets or the most advanced version of the F-16, Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens said Thursday. “If we are able to secure the production volume that is necessary to drive...

Recruiting Remains Strong

Enlisted recruiting and retention data released for May show that the Air Force and its reserve components met or exceeded their accession goals. The Air Force met its goal of 2,227 accessions, while the Air National Guard acquired 71 more...

Double Amputee Makes Historic Jump

SSgt. Shaun Meadows on June 15 became the first active duty airman to complete a parachute jump after losing both legs in combat. Meadows is a combat controller assigned to the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron at JB Lewis-McChord, Wash. He...

Tuskegee Airman William Holloman Dies

Retired Lt. Col. William H. Holloman, a member of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen and the Air Force’s first black helicopter pilot, died June 11 in Kent, Wash. He was 85. A native of St. Louis, Holloman volunteered...

Air Sorties from SWA 060910

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, June 9-12, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 100 220 320 10,601 CAS/Armed Recon 74 277 351 15,315 Airlift 659 659 27,932 Air refueling 186 186 7,144 Rescue 54 54 2,982 Total...