A New Gig For Old Spy Birds

Although many National Reconnaissance Office satellites are more than a decade old and well past their intended service lives, their signals-collection capabilities remain fairly robust, said NRO Director Bruce Carlson. Once designed “to collect Soviet long-haul communications” during the Cold...

Path to Drawdown

There are some 4,700 airmen in Iraq now and that number may actually ramp up “slightly” as the United States draws nearer to completing the pullout of its remaining troops and equipment from Iraq by year’s end, said Maj. Gen....

Marine Awarded Medal of Honor

President Obama on Thursday presented Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota L. Meyer with the nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. The President recognized Meyer, 23, of Columbia, Kentucky, for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity during an intense six-hour battle...

BRAC is Done for this Round

The Air Force has fulfilled all actions mandated under the 2005 round of BRAC, announced service officials Thursday. In six year’s time, Air Force officials executed seven closures and orchestrated 63 realignments at 122 installations to implement BRAC’s 64 USAF-specific...

Spotlight: SMSgt. Patrick D. Jones

One of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2011, SMSgt. Patrick D. Jones is an operations flight superintendent with the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron at Scott AFB, Ill. Jones, who helps manage 250 multiskilled military and...

Open Secrets

The National Reconnaissance Office will declassify two imagery satellites that operated from 1963 to 1984 during a ceremony Saturday at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles airport in Chantilly, Va. Both the Gambit, known as...

Advocating Hypersonics

Marion Blakey, Aerospace Industries Association president, on Thursday called on Congress to think strategically in the coming round of budget cuts and support research and development of hypersonic craft and the facilities necessary to develop and test them. Investment in...

Not a Role Model

One should not view NATO’s action to support rebels seeking the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi as a template for future coalition operations, said US Africa Command chief Gen. Carter Ham. Speaking with defense reporters Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,...

Leave The Carry-on

Air Force Global Strike Command and Pacific Air Forces partnered to shave an estimated $12 million each year from the cost of B-2A and B-52H rotations to Andersen AFB, Guam, where the United States maintains a continual bomber presence. They’ve...

Let the Jam Begin

Raytheon delivered its first batch of eight Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammers to the Air Force for operational test and evaluation, announced company officials. Based on the MALD decoy, which mimics the radar signature of strike aircraft, MALD-J adds an...