July 2009

Vol. 92, No. 7

 
Highlights from the July 2009 Issue

Big Sky Kings

The Vigilantes” of the Montana Air National Guard now take to the air in F-15C Eagles. “

America’s Triple Threat

In 1988, just before the Cold War faded out, America’s strategic nuclear deterrent boasted some 13,000 warheads, but two subsequent decades of negotiated cuts have reduced the total to roughly 2,000 “operationally deployed” weapons. Warhead losses of such magnitude inevitably...

Air Force World

Roadside Bombs Kill Four Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, and SrA. Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, died May 26 of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Stratton, of Houston, was serving as commander...

Verbatim

Eliminate the Air Force “The Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. … The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are at war, but the Air Force is not. …...

T-28 Trojan

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Ben Rich’s “Odd-Looking Flying Machine”

“Remarks on the F-117” Ben R. Rich F-117A Final Delivery Ceremony Palmdale, Calif. July 12, 1990 FULL TEXT VERSION Ben R. Rich, head of Lockheed’s Skunk Works in the period 1975-91, was the father of the first stealth fighter—the F-117....

Letters

Like It or Lump It In your May 2009 editorial, “The Air Force That Comes Next” [p. 2], you suggest that “the future Air Force won’t be what its leaders expected it to be.” I would contend that it will...

AFA National Report

A Return to Minot When AFA Chairman of the Board Joseph E. Sutter visited Minot AFB, N.D., and the Gen. David C. Jones Chapter in April, the local CBS affiliate took note. “Because we live next to a military base,...
 
Complete Contents of July 2009 PDF
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The Strategy's Last Stand?
The two-war standard has withstood years of challenges. There is a good reason.
By Robert S. Dudney

Fighter of the Future
The F-35-the last remaining manned combat aircraft program moves to the center of US airpower plans
By John A. Tirpak

Playing With Fire
Operational trends over 40 years have shown that US airpower depends completely on tankers.
By Rebecca Grant

Big Sky Kings
The "Vigilantes" of the Montana Air National Guard now take to the air in F-15C Eagles.
By Ted Carlson

How the Predator Grew Teeth
The little UAV had an inauspicious start. Things have picked up considerably
By Walter J. Boyne

Chart Page Special: Defense Budget at a Glance
By Tamar A. Mehuron and Heather Lewis

The State of the Arsenal
Things weren't all that great to begin with. Then came "Bloody Monday." Things weren't all that great to begin with. Then came "Bloody Monday."
By Megan Scully

Gunship Worries
They are indispensable. Everyone loves them. There are no plans for new ones.
By Otto Kreisher

Engagement in Africa
A modest airlift into Sudan marks the start of what may prove to be a new regional preoccupation.
By Stewart M. Powell

But What About the Air Corps?
The nation's air arm in World War II was the Army Air Forces. However, there's more to the story.
By John T. Correll

The Mayaguez Rescue
On Cambodia's Koh Tang in 1975, US forces fought the last battle of the Southeast Asia War.
By George M. Watson Jr.

Departments


Letters

Washington Watch

Air Force World

Index to Advertisers

Senior Staff Changes

Issue Brief

Verbatim

Keeper File

Flashback

AFA National Leaders

AFA National Report

Reunions

Field Contacts

Airpower Classics