Michael C. Sirak


Recent stories by Michael C. Sirak

Air Commando Dies in Training Accident

An air commando died from injuries suffered in a ground vehicle accident during training on the Melrose Air Force Range in New Mexico, west of Cannon Air Force Base. The airman succumbed to the effects of head trauma while in...

Next Three F-35A Basing Locations Defined

The Air Force’s new F-35A fleet basing strategy lays out the parameters for the next three operational locations for the stealth jet, service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Air Force Magazine on Monday. She said the Air Force just notified Congress...

Tanker Revolution

KC-Z, the third and last portion of Air Force tanker recapitalization decades from now, “must be a revolution,” and not just an evolution in aerial refueling technology, and must embrace outside-of-the-box ideas, said Gen. Darren McDew, head of Air Mobility...

Deliberately Developing Mobility Airmen

Air Mobility Command is joining forces with Air Force Space Command for an officer exchange program, according to Gen. Darren McDew, Air Mobility Command boss. “I am going to bring in a cyber-smart, space-smart [colonel] to the Tanker Airlift Control...

Tough Nut to Crack

The Air Force anticipates having the plan in place soon to ensure it has enough maintainers on hand for the F-35A strike fighter to meet the stealth jet’s projected in-service date around August 2016, said service Secretary Deborah Lee James....

Looking at a Smaller Number

The Air Force likely will not be able to place a total of 36 A-10s in backup status as Congress authorized in Fiscal 2015, said Secretary Deborah Lee James. Instead, it will probably have to make do with moving a...

The Case For Several More CV-22s

Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, continues to advocate for building an attrition reserve for the CV-22 fleet by acquiring up to four additional aircraft beyond the current program of record for 50. AFSOC has...

Lakenheath’s Lethal Force

The Air Force does not intend to remove its F-15E Strike Eagles from RAF Lakenheath, Britain, after the F-35A strike fighter begins operating from there next decade, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in...

The X-37B and the Satellite Throwaway Paradigm

The X-37B reusable spaceplane has “great utility” and the Air Force intends to keep using it “for a while” because it is helping service officials understand the “re-usability aspect of space” for satellites, said Gen. John Hyten, Air Force Space...

Creating the Ultimate Nighttime CAS Platform

Air Force Special Operations Command is adding a 105 mm gun to its new AC-130J gunship to give the aircraft more firepower, Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, AFSOC commander, told reporters on Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla....

More Than Ready

The aerospace defense industry is “more than ready” to develop the Long-Range Strike Bomber and it’s “time to move forward,” said Rebecca Grant, president of IRIS Independent Research, on Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. The Obama Administration...

Not Just the Air Force

The debate about the future Long-Range Strike Bomber should not rest solely on “how the Air Force is going to pay for the bomber,” said retired Col. Mark Gunzinger, senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in...

Don’t Forget the Maritime Role

Among the attributes of the Air Force’s future Long-Range Strike Bomber will be its ability to reach out and operate in contested maritime environments, retired Lt. Gen. Bob Elder, former 8th Air Force commander, told AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in...

Manned, Unmanned on the Merits

Trying to avoid risk to aircrews is not, in and of itself, sufficient justification for removing pilots from the cockpit of the future Long-Range Strike Bomber, said retired Lt. Gen. Christopher Miller, former deputy chief of staff for strategic plans...

Strategic Talking

Adm. Cecil Haney, head of US Strategic Command, on Thursday said he plans to meet with the leadership of the Air Force’s nuclear-capable bomber community at the end of October to discuss the air leg of the US nuclear deterrent....

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