Army, Navy, and Marine Corps officials made it very clear to the House Armed Services air and land forces panel yesterday that they do not believe the Air Force should be the executive agent for medium- and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles. However, they did not come loaded for bear with on point justifications, instead they raised the ire of several lawmakers by obfuscating answers to simple questions like: Is there duplication? Finally, the panel directed the services to provide written responses specifically outlining their objections to the Air Force plan. The Air Force rep, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance chief on the Air Staff, tried to allay fears, reiterating that USAF sees this move as a benefit to the joint operation and certainly isn’t making a power run. (Deptula's written testimony.) Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson grudgingly acknowledged that there is duplication, but insisted that the present system works. Joe Landon, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for C3ISR, said the DOD brain trust isn’t yet prepared to make a decision.

The Air Force has sent A-10 Warthogs back to Afghanistan to augment the F-15Es now serving there as NATO and the coalition ramp up efforts to combat an increasingly strong Taliban revival. The A-10s and their air and ground crews...

With Air Force Reserve Command deactivating its 913th Airlift Wing at NAS JRB Willow Grove, Pa., many military and civilian personnel are signing on with the Air National Guard. Lou Sessinger of The Intelligencer reports that many of them are...

Some 400 airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, and Canadian airmen are conducting joint training in air-to-ground support at Avon Park, Fla., for Atlantic Strike V. The US Central Command Air Forces semi-annual training event, which ends today, provides an opportunity to...

Richard Lardner of the Tampa Tribune writes that the new boss of US Central Command, Adm. William Fallon, has discarded the term “Long War” used by his successor Army Gen. John Abizaid. In a written response to query, Lardner was...

Turkey has provided some 135,000 pounds of equipment and supplies for operations in Afghanistan—all of it airlifted by USAF C-17s deployed to Incirlik AB, Turkey. Active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve airmen of the 728th Air Mobility Squadron...

The Defense Department has decided that it will compensate reservists who deploy or mobilize longer than the “established rotation policy goals,” announced earlier this year, by giving them administrative absences. The rate of return will range from one day to...

The Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah, has joined forces with Raytheon that will bring work on the Global Broadcast Systems software to the Utah facility, according to the Hilltop Times. The partnership agreement, reports Mitch Shaw, allows...

The Air Force plans to power Nellis AFB, Nev., from a solar energy plant that will provide about 30 percent of the base’s energy needs, according to USA Today. The base will have the “largest solar power plant in North...

The latest vector from the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael Moseley, talks about airmen as warriors who have sustained combat operations for 16 years and acknowledges “the strain is taking a toll” but that “airmen perservere.” Moseley writes that the service’s 100-year old battle traditions are the youngest of the services, yet airmen have a “proud heritage.” He attaches two documents: CSAF Airman’s Test and The Airman’s Creed.

The Air Force has begun sending to USAF facilities around the world to jump start the transition to a new centralized financial services operation. The teams will spend the next nine months indoctrinating local finance personnel develop the process that...

April 16, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 18 8 26 CAS/Armed Recon 46 35 81 Airlift 140 140 Air refueling 46 46 Total 64 43 186 293 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...