James: Nuclear Issues are Systemic

The Air Force does “have a systemic problem” within its nuclear forces, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said during an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast event in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday. And though she, and senior USAF and Defense Department leaders,...

James Outlines Top Three Priorities

Air Force Secretary Deborah James has set three priorities for her tenure—people, readiness and modernization, and making every dollar count, she told attendees at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday. James said USAF must take “care...

ARC of the Covenant

Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Wednesday she expects a key finding of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force’s report, which will be released today, to be a larger USAF role for the reserve component. “There’s...

LaPlante Nomination Sent to the Senate

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of William LaPlante to be the Air Force’s top civilian acquisition boss. His nomination now goes to the full Senate for consideration. If approved, LaPlante will become the Air Force’s...

Pentagon Weapons Tester Releases Annual Report

The Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has released its annual report on the Defense Department’s Fiscal 2013 live fire and operational testing activities. This includes some of the Air Force’s highest priority programs, such as the F-35 (see...

Assessing the F-35

While Pentagon testers gave high marks to the F-35 program for matching or exceeding flight test goals through October 2013, despite lost productivity connected to the sequester and government shutdown, they hit the program for falling behind in testing mission...

Red Flag Starts Up Again

The Air Force this week kick-started its first Red Flag exercise since sequester-related funding cuts sidelined such exercises last year. The premier air-to-air combat training began Jan. 27 as allied and US aircraft took to the skies above Nellis AFB’s...

GPS III Vehicle Powered On

Lockheed Martin successfully powered on the second Global Positioning System III space vehicle late last year at its Denver-area processing facility, announced the company on Jan. 29. The powering on of SV-02 is a “significant milestone,” said Mark Stewart, vice...

Evaluating Profession of Arms

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said it’s time to re-evaluate the profession of arms. Specifically, Dempsey wants to know “how 10 years of conflict has affected us as we conduct transitions in our current wars, face...