US Northern Command officials say they had eyes on the missiles launched July 4 by North Korea and that ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California were poised to take out the long-range Taepo Dong 2 if it hadn’t fizzled seconds...

The 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB, N.J., pulled off an “Elephant Walk” recently, but this one included, for the first time, C-17s mixed with KC-10s in the traditional “nose to tail” surge maneuver. Five C-17s and 11 KC-10s...

“Space cadet” 2nd Lt. Randall Claar—adorned in dress blues and his 7th US Cavalry spurs—received the Gen. Jerome F. O’Malley Distinguished Space Leadership Award for 2006 for his use of space assets during battle. In March 2003, Claar was a...

The Air Force plans today to stand up its first network warfare wing—changing the 67th Information Operations Wing to the 67th Network Warfare Wing. And, as part of the service’s push to centralize its network operations, the redesignated wing, which...

The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, Britain, is working 14 civilian contractors in 24-hour shifts, six days a week, to modify the wing’s F-15s in preparation for September deployment to Southwest Asia. The deploying fighters are getting fitted with...

The Congressional newspaper, The Hill, reports that key lawmakers in the House believe the Senate is on the right track with its push to get the Administration to put funding for the war on terror into the DOD budget. They want to stop the seemingly endless run of “emergency supplementals.” There is clear precedent for stopping the use of supplementals for a protracted war, as seen in a recent Congressional Research Service recap of funding over the years for the wars in Korea and Vietnam. There was a large supplemental in the first year for Korea, then the preponderance of funding shifted to regular appropriations. For Vietnam over the course of 11 years, there were five supplementals of greatly decreasing amounts from 1966 on.

Airmen with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, prepared and airdropped surprise bundles—sodas, cookies, beef jerky, CDs, DVDs, socks, T-shirts, and more—on the 4th of July for soldiers at some of the most remote forward operating bases...

With the increasing call for Air Force personnel to handle jobs normally done by soldiers, the service has tasked Air Education and Training Command’s 2nd Air Force with oversight for training of these so-called “in lieu of” airmen. The ILO...

Boeing officials say the company has picked up work on a new Air Force space effort and additional work under its long-standing contract to build Global Positioning System satellites. The new work involves defining the next-generation communications payload for a...

An Air Force Reserve Command C-17 airlifter from March ARB, Calif., with a mixed AFRC and active duty crew, flew a young Afghan boy named Omar Muhammad from Ramstein AB, Germany, back to Afghanistan. The boy had undergone heart surgery...

Pacific Air Forces has received the Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois Memorial Award presented by the Order of Daedalians for an exception 2005 flight safety program. PACAF not only flew without aircrew fatalities or destroyed aircraft but also reached the...

Veterans Affairs plans to open a second “Vet Center” in Atlanta later this year or early in 2007. It will join the 207 other Vet Centers around the country that offer readjustment counseling service to veterans returning from the war...

The Pentagon has decided to “cease operations” at a facility in Turkey called the Yumurtalik Sea Terminal, which serves as a jet fuel receipt point for Incirlik Air Base. According to a brief announcement, the action affects one US service...

July 5, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 13 6 19 CAS/Armed Recon 46 25 71 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 41 41 Total 59 31 201 291 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance