Two C-17 Squadrons Will Stand Down

?Air Mobility Command will stand down two C-17 squadrons over the next two years and move the units’ 16 total airplanes into backup status as part of a cost-saving plan laid out in Fiscal 2015 defense legislation, announced the command...

Welsh Visits Al Udeid on Southwest Asia Tour

Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh earlier this month visited airmen at al Udeid AB, Qatar, and spent time there ?with units supporting operations in the Middle East, according to a release. He toured Air Forces Central Command’s combined air...

A Historic Year

Airmen should take pride in all they accomplished in 2014, said CMSAF James Cody in December’s edition of Roll Call, issued on Monday. “The year has seen many achievements and just as many challenges,” he wrote. “You have consistently met...

Defense Policy Legislation Becomes Law

President Obama signed into law H.R. 3979, the Fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill, announced the White House. The legislation authorizes $585 billion for the Defense Department and the Energy Department’s national security programs in this fiscal year, which runs through...

2015 Military Pay and Compensation Rates Announced

Effective Jan. 1, military personnel will receive a one-percent increase in basic pay, announced the Defense Department on Monday. The exceptions are general and flag officers, who will see no basic pay increase in 2015, states the Pentagon’s release. Service...

Pentagon Approves Tanks, Armored Humvees for Iraq

The Defense Department gave the green light to a pair of proposed foreign military sales worth approximately $3 billion to provide Iraq with M1A1 Abrams tanks and up-armored humvees. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced both potential deals on Dec....

Think Tank Proposes Radical Taiwan Defense Rethink

In response to China’s rapidly growing military strength, Taiwan should forego attempting to buy superior conventional weaponry and focus instead on a new defense strategy, assert the authors of a newly issued Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments study. That...

Former Soviet States Eye Collective Air Force

The nations of the Collective Security Trade Organization—Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan—are considering establishing a collective air force, reported the Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS on Monday. Discussions on this topic were expected to take place during the...