The Pentagon confirmed the death of A1C Elizabeth N. Jacobson, who was killed Sept. 28 while on convoy duty in Iraq. The 21-year-old native of Riviera Beach, Fla., was killed near Camp Bucca, when an improvised explosive device exploded next...

Time Is Really Running Out: The 2006 defense appropriations spending bill moved another notch, while the authorization bill is where?. The Senate appropriations committee on Wednesday advanced the 2006 defense spending measure to the Senate floor. (DR, 09/28/05) Meanwhile, Sen....

Adm. Timothy Keating, head of both NORAD and US Northern Command, said Thursday that the US missile defense program buck stops at his door at Peterson AFB, Colo. NORTHCOM, he said, is the “primary operational arm” for missile defense actions...

Keating also discussed Operation Noble Eagle—now entering its fifth year—noting that because Air National Guard fighters fly most of the missions, he became a central figure in the controversy over the Air Force’s BRAC recommendations to realign ANG units—deactivating some...

When Noble Eagle first started, there were military fighters over key American cites virtually around-the-clock. That soon changed, evolving today, said Keating, to a system in which fighters pop-up based on assessments NORAD planners make of intelligence data. “We want...

On the day he took command, the new Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael Moseley, wrote in a letter to all USAF airmen that the nation had been “fighting the Global War on Terror for two-and-one-half months longer than...

In his letter, Moseley set down the “three major challenges” facing the Air Force. First is to accomplish assigned combatant tasks. Second is to preserve the strength of the force—its people. And, third is to “face the difficult task of...

The “Threat Panel” of the House Armed Services Committee heard Wednesday from experts on the Middle East as it pressed forward with its so-called Committee Defense Review. According to Threat Panel co-chair Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) none of the threats emanating...

According to Ryan Henry, the Quadrennial Defense Review will usher in development of a DOD-wide “spacepower theory” that will integrate space with the “other warfighting domains of air, land, and sea.” Henry offered this tidbit at a Washington conference last...

Drawing the Technology Line, Finally: According to the South Korean Chosun Ilbo, government officials confirmed Thursday that Washington had turned down Seoul’s request to purchase Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. The export of the RQ-4A Global Hawk, Northrop Grumman’s cutting...

The chefs of the latest efforts to reform Pentagon procurement practices met uniform skepticism Tuesday from Senate Armed Services Committee lawmakers who say there’s been no improvement in the past two decades. Noting that problems cited in the 1980s still...

Both the House and Senate passed measures permanently increasing to $400,000 the maximum life insurance coverage available to service members and veterans. The action replaces the temporary increase passed earlier this year that was set to expire Sept. 30. The...

The Air Force poured a bucket of cold water on a supposed major policy shift on satellite use. The Wall Street Journal last week reported that the Bush Administration wanted to combine national security and civilian payloads on single, large...

A joint staff spokesman confirmed that leaders of US combatant commands will get a look next week at the Quadrennial Defense Review—or at least the decisions made so far—during a series of meetings at the Pentagon.

Does She Have the Clout Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has announced she will fight any effort to give Boeing’s work on the Future Imagery Architecture satellite program to Lockheed Martin. (DR, 09/26/05)...

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was in Iraq this week to help open the new NATO training mission center in Baghdad. The NATO chief said that Iraq is “primarily responsible for the security of its people, but the...

The Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board on Wednesday approved full-rate production of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. The official endorsement brings to a close a long and rocky development history. The Air Force plans to purchase 50 of the CV-22 version...

Northrop Grumman said Thursday it had lined up Computer Sciences Corp.’s Australian subsidiary and a Turkish defense electronics firm to provide avionics components and test equipment for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Australia and Turkey are two of the nine...

In the slimmed down US defense industry, joining with a long-time rival is more and more the only game in town. Lockheed Martin may have just run away with a Boeing intelligence satellite program, but that doesn’t stop the two...

The partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin will have to fend off several other major defense companies for the contract to build the next crop of Small Diameter Bombs. According to Dow Jones newswire, Raytheon and, perhaps, General Dynamics and...

The dynamic between the United States and China will have great implications for foreign policy—not to mention China’s own fortunes—argues Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, in an article appearing in the latest issue...

There are three subjects that have the attention of the new head of Air Force Materiel Command, Gen. Bruce Carlson, and he says, “you won’t hear me talk about much more than those.” On a recent visit to the Arnold...

An Air Force Reserve Command aircrew on Sept. 26 flew the C-141 Starlifter’s last combat mission—ferrying cargo to Europe, then patients out of Southwest Asia. AFRC’s 445th Airlift Wing, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the last operational C-141 wing in USAF,...

Operations stop Friday at Rhein-Main AB, Germany, as US strategic airlift missions shift to Ramstein and Spangdahlem Air Bases. Military flights ended Monday at Rhein-Main. Nicknamed the “Gateway to Europe,” the base played a central role in the 1948-49 Berlin...

USAF said Thursday that military and civilian personnel are cleared to head for Texas coastal naval stations. However, officials urged travelers to heed travel warnings from civilian agencies in areas damaged by Hurricane Rita.

Air University joined forces with the Air Force General Counsel to create a new center of excellence devoted to the art of negotiation. Located at Maxwell AFB, Ala., the center, say officials, will aid the Air Force by developing airmen...

September 28, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 11 5 – 16 CAS/Armed Recon 36 18 – 54 Airlift – – 160 160 Air refueling – – 31 31 Total 47 23 191 261 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...