Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker made clear Thursday that he believes airpower is a big key to future Army effectiveness. The Army Chief of Staff told reporters that the ground force wants to reduce as much as possible its reliance on...
Schoomaker wants to get close—real close—to the Air Force in the use of unmanned aerial systems (formerly UAVs). He said he would like to see Air Force and Army UASes operating over the battlefield in “a single box”—that is, with...
Schoomaker likes USAF’s push to create more Battlefield Airmen that travel with ground troops and help mesh air operations with ground operations. Schoomaker said he saw some of these airmen in Iraq working with forward Army units and was impressed...
The Air Force says it has 4,000 officers too many. USAF has been trimming its ranks over the past year to get down to its authorized end strength. The enlisted numbers are right, but USAF said it must cut another...
Air Force Reserve Command surpassed its recruiting goal for the fifth straight year, and did so in record time. The recruiting year ends Sept. 30, but by Aug. 11, AFRC had already met its goal of 8,800 recruits for the...
Should DOD create a single agency to guard America from cruise missile attack? It’s a serious issue getting lots of think-tank attention. Yet when a reporter asked Donald Rumsfeld about it, he responded, in effect, “I’ll get back to you.”...
An emergency milk run to a local supermarket on Aug. 9 netted MSgt. John San Cartier, the winning lottery ticket for New Mexico’s $93.4 million lottery jackpot. Sergeant San Cartier took that occasion to buy his ticket, which will yield...
US Dist. Judge John R. Padova in Philadelphia said Tuesday that he would provide a ruling quickly in the lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania over the Pentagon’s BRAC proposals regarding the state’s ANG units, including the 111th Fighter Wing at JRB...
Lockheed Martin said Wednesday that the Air Force now will be able to use common and existing aircraft interfaces when adding new weapons to its fleet. The first case will be AGM-158A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile. The Lockheed...
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has taken a step that at least raises interesting questions about his support for the BRAC process. Readers of the Washington Post opened their newspapers on Wednesday to see, on the front page, a blast from...
The American public evidently does not tire of national security news. According to a McCormick Tribune Foundation/ Gallup poll released Wednesday, 60 percent of Americans say they don’t get enough information about military matters; they want more so they can...
The McCormick study found a different public attitude about military news providers—whether print and broadcast newsmen on one hand or military spokesmen on the other. The public has grown more skeptical of the media, with only 61 percent saying the...
Raytheon said Tuesday that it had delivered the first experimental Distributed Common Ground System to Langley AFB, Va. This system will allow worldwide distribution of ISR data “in a significantly shorter amount of time.” The idea is to shorten the...
Top military commanders in Europe wrapped up a two-day seminar today aboard USS Mount Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea. The focus: to forecast the European theater’s strategic future in 2013. Is a seven-year view the new standard
Has Kazakhstan—the biggest and most powerful of those ‘Stan countries—come back to our side? Yes. And no. Its foreign minister told Washington Times reporters that his country would continue to support US operations in Central Asia. That’s good, the US...
It’s big casino time for the missile defense program, which over the next year will stage four key tests of the pivotal Ground-based Mid-Course Missile Defense system. Two previous tests failed, mostly because of technical glitches. Missile interceptors are already...
It’s often overlooked in the rush to acquire extravagantly sophisticated equipment, but the traditional 24-hour command post is alive and well and still performing vital command, control, and communications functions whether at stateside bases or in the thick of things...
Want to become an expert in homeland security? An accredited curriculum will soon arrive at a school near you. NORAD and US Northern Command have teamed up with 13 higher education institutions to craft graduate-level core studies. The group—the “Homeland...
Coalition forces in Afghanistan came under small arms fire while performing routine operations in the vicinity of Tarin Kowt on Aug. 24. The troops requested close air support, and Air Force A-10s and B-52s responded. The B-52s launched nine precision-guided...
August 23, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 10 5 – 15 CAS/Armed Recon 50 25 – 75 Airlift – – 160 160 Air refueling – – 36 36 Total 60 30 196 286 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...