Press reports emanating from the Middle East earlier this month stated that the F-22 would be appearing at the Dubai airshow in November in the United Arab Emirates. This would be stealth fighter’s first publicly acknowledged appearance in that part of the world. The National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, UAE, reported, for example, that the stealth fighter would be one of 10 US aircraft types appearing at the annual airshow, citing airshow organizers. However, this news appears to be premature, at the very least, if not incorrect. Indeed, Air Combat Command spokesman Capt. Peter Hughes told the Daily Report Thursday afternoon that Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz “has not yet approved the proposal” for the F-22 to go to Dubai. So far in 2009, the F-22’s only international airshow appearance was in Toronto, according to 1st Fighter Wing spokeswoman 1st. Lt. Georganne Schultz.
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…