HASC Tacair Panel Blocks Global Hawk Retirements

The House Armed Services Committee's tactical air and land forces panel has moved to stop the Air Force from retiring its RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 remotely piloted aircraft next fiscal year. Language included in the panel chairman's mark-up of the Pentagon's Fiscal 2013 budget request bars the Air Force from using any of the fiscal year's funds "to retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage" any Block 30 aircraft. Released on Thursday, April 26, in preparation for Friday's mark-up hearing, the mark also stipulates that the Air Force "shall maintain the operational capability of each" Block 30 airplane through at least the end of 2014. This includes those already in the inventory and those delivered during this period. So that there is the manpower to maintain these Block 30s, the HASC personnel panel's chairman's mark, released on April 25, retained 560 of the 3,900 Active Duty billets that the Air Force has proposed cutting from its end strength. The Block 30 variant was designed to replace the U-2 for high-altitude surveillance. However, the Air Force says it's proving to be too expensive to operate. (Tacair panel mark-up; caution, large-sized file.)

The F-35 or Bust

The Air Force simply can’t do without the F-35 strike fighter, and buying new fourth generation fighters to maintain inventories is a bad solution to F-35 delays, said Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mike Hostage Thursday. He told a luncheon...

Gotta Have the Cards

Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mike Hostage thinks it’s “fundamentally unrealistic to think we will not take another hit” on the defense budget. Speaking to a luncheon of AFA’s D.W. Steele Chapter in Arlington, Va., on April 26, Hostage said...

Targeting Atrophy

The Air Force has lost some of its targeting capability over the last 10 years, as last year’s air campaign over Libya demonstrated, said Lt. Gen. Larry James, who oversees intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance matters on the Air Staff. “As...

Stress Relief

The Air Force has temporarily pulled back on increasing the number of Predator and Reaper combat air patrols flying in support of operations in Afghanistan in order to ease stress on the remotely piloted aircraft force and rebuild the training...

MiG-29 Mishap at Thracian Star Grounds Bulgarian Airplanes

The Bulgarian air force terminated all of its flights on Thursday, April 26, after one of its MiG-29 fighters crashed in a training drill with US Air Force F-16s during Exercise Thracian Star, reported the Sofia News Agency, citing Bulgaria’s...

Every Man a Tester

The first class of 12 enlisted airmen graduated the Air Force Test Pilot School’s new Enlisted Flight Test Course earlier this month at Edwards AFB, Calif. Upcoming test programs like the KC-46A tanker will require more aircrew than just pilots,...

Upgrade for Electronic-Attack Pods

The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $52.8 million contract to upgrade the service’s ALQ-131 electronic-attack pods, according to the company’s April 26 release. The contract covers 27 months of engineering and manufacturing development; it has a potential value of...

First C-17 Retires

T-1, the Air Force’s prototype C-17 transport, retired to the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, ending a 21-year testing career at Edwards AFB, Calif. The airplane arrived in Dayton on April 25. “This aircraft will...

Spitting Distance of History

Thawing Western relations with Myanmar’s government may unearth a squadron of Spitfire fighters buried by British forces at the end of World War II. Just several weeks before Japan surrendered in early September 1945, British troops entombed as many as...