Maj. Douglas Rothenhofer, an F-16 instructor pilot with the 39th Flying Training Squadron, Moody AFB, Ga., died Dec. 1 from injuries sustained after he fell from an obstacle during physical fitness drills. The Ft. Wayne (Ind.) News Sentinel reports that...

The Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday publicly issued the bipartisan Committee Defense Review report, the so-called complement to the Quadrennial Defense Review that chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and ranking member Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) began in September...

The Committee Defense Review report (see above), released Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee, advocates increasing force structure across the board (force structure table) to ensure the US military can continue to wage a long-duration irregular campaign like the war on terror and conduct two simultaneous conventional campaigns. For the Air Force, the CDR recommends adding five air expeditionary forces to the current 10 AEFs. To equip those five new AEFs, the CDR recommends adding 680 airframes in a mix of fighters, bombers, and tactical airlifters, and 169 strategic airlifters and tankers.

Another laptop has been stolen, in this case jeopardizing personal information of some 1,000 airmen of the West Virginia Air National Guard, reports the Charleston (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. The Guard has notified members of the 130th Airlift Wing of the potential...

The Air Force has given contracts to two companies to further a decision on whether the service should pursue the Alternative Infrared Satellite System, which could serve as a replacement or alter ego for the increasingly expensive and technically challenged...

Working a Lightning II Simulator: Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter has tapped Rockwell Collins to develop the image generation system for the JSF pilot training simulators. A Rockwell statement says the contract calls...

Union firefighters who work at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, are crying foul over an Air Force plan to cut some 25 percent of the firefighter jobs, reports the Dayton Daily News. A base official told the newspaper that the base had...

The Air Force has problems with another of its lawyers; unlike the earlier case in which the top Judge Advocate General was demoted (and retired) for fraternization, this time the individual reportedly failed to let the service know that two states had disbarred him. Air Force spokesman Dewey Mitchell confirmed Wednesday that the service removed Col. Michael Murphy on Nov. 30 from his position as commander of the Air Force Legal Operations Agency at Bolling AFB, D.C. The Air Force Inspector General is investigating.

That was a key question Wednesday at a House Armed Services subcommittee meeting, in which DOD and service officials explained—and defended—the medal awards process. Personnel Subcommittee chairman John McHugh (R-N.Y.) was most concerned about the dearth of Medal of Honor...

The Air Force’s first woman pilot to fly in combat—Col. Martha McSally—talked briefly on her place in Air Force history while attending Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Ala., paying homage to the women who flew for the military during...

What do Americans think of the Iraq Study Group’s plan? According to a World Public Opinion.org survey, 75 percent agree that the US must engage in talks with Iran and Syria to find a solution for the growing violence in Iraq. And, a majority of Americans clearly are ready to set a timetable to bring US forces home. The WPO survey conducted late last month, predated the Dec. 6 release of the ISG report, but the central ISG tenets had been widely discussed. Steven Kull, editor of WPO.org and director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, said that the results indicate “there is potential for finding some bipartisan consensus on the next steps for the US to take in Iraq.”

The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., has activated the 461st Flight Test Squadron to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force. (We missed this Nov. 29 news release.) The unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Ed...

The Air War College at Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala., is well on its way toward getting Phase II certification for Joint Professional Military Education. Once approved by the Joint Chiefs Chairman, AWC Phase II coursework graduates achieve the all-important...

Dec. 6, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 10 25 CAS/Armed Recon 30 52 82 Airlift 130 130 Air refueling 35 35 Total 45 62 165 272 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance