Reaper Drops First Bomb In Iraq

An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb against an anti-coalition target in Iraq Aug. 16, marking the platform’s first weapon engagement in Iraq since its introduction there last month. Air Force officials said the Reaper strike...

F-15 Goes Synthetic

The Air Force on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week conducted the first flights of a supersonic fighter aircraft—in this case an F-15—burning a mix of traditional jet fuel and synthetic kerosene derived from natural gas (and potentially coal at...

When All is Said and Done

By Michael C. Sirak
The protest delay on the Air Force’s combat search and rescue replacement vehicle program will have cost the service about $1 billion, according to Maj. Gen. David “Scott” Gray, director of Global Reach Programs in the Air Force’s acquisition shop....

Leveraging Lever Expertise

Air Force personnel have begun an intensive effort to fabricate new wing levers for the T-38 trainer fleet to keep the aircraft flying. After Air Force investigators identified that a T-38 aileron actuator lever, a flight control, was a contributing...

Making Better Connections

By Marc V. Schanz
US veterans returning from service in Afghanistan and Iraq are better able to access mental health resources today than ever before, thanks to unprecedented investment and new tools for managing records, the head of Veterans Affairs told defense reporters Thursday...

Getting a Heads Up

Just back from a recent trip to Iraq, VA Secretary James Peake, told Washington-based defense reporters Thursday (see above) that electronic health records are being kept very early on in the treatment process for wounded service members and are being...

New GPS Pegged at $4 Billion, C-5 Mod Cost Down

The Air Force’s program to design and manufacture the first 12 Global Positioning System block IIIA satellites will cost slightly more than $4 billion, the Pentagon has told Congress. The cost estimate for the GPS Block IIIA program, which will...

Going With the Flow

The Air Force Academy has received a research grant from the National Science Foundation to study how to harness the power of ocean waves to generate energy. “Wave power has the potential to provide a large portion of the world’s...

Most Outstanding Reservists, Employers Recognized

Lt. Col. Douglas Cox and SrA. Chad Rasmusen, have won, along with their employers, AFA’s 2008 Air Force Reserve Citizen Airman and Employer Awards. Air Force Reserve Command announced the awards Aug. 20. Cox, who works in the Air Force...