Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, Va., yesterday cleared a portion of the Air Force’s F-15 A-D model fighters to flying status after more than two months of stand down resulting from the Nov. 2 mid-air breakup of an Air National Guard F-15C. It also recommended a limited return to flight for Air Force F-15s worldwide following engineering risk assessments and data received from multiple fleet-wide inspections. “The priority in resuming operations for a portion of the F-15 fleet is the defense of our nation—America deserves nothing less,” Gen. John Corley, ACC commander, states in the command’s Jan. 9 release. “Aircraft inspection results and counsel from both military and industry experts have made me confident in the safety of a portion of the fleet. As a result, I have cleared those F-15s to return to fly.” The decisions apply only to about 60 percent of the Air Force’s approximately 440 F-15 A-D models “that have cleared all inspections and have met longeron manufacturing specifications,” ACC says. The longerons are structural support beams around the cockpit. The Air Force believes that catastrophic failure of a longeron caused the Missouri ANG F-15C to break apart during a routine training sortie over eastern Missouri. Corley plans to hold a press conference today in the Pentagon, accompanied by the head of the accident investigation and maintenance, logistics, and operations deputies, to discuss the F-15 situation and what will become of the Eagles still grounded. The Daily Report learned yesterday that senior Air Force leaders believe that 159 F-15s may never fly again. (Read “Should Eagles Dare”)

It will not be easy to repair the nine F-15s found to have cracked longerons, which have made them unsafe to fly. According to Air Combat Command, it takes 120 days to make one of the parts, which are usually...

William Anderson, the Air Force’s point man for its alternative and renewable energy initiatives, will hold a town-hall meeting Jan. 30 in Great Falls, Mont., to discuss the idea of building a synthetic fuel plant at nearby Malmstrom AFB. An...

Boeing opened another F-15E Mission Training Center, this one at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., which the company says will provide introductory, operational, and continuation training for the 4th Fighter Wing’s F-15E Strike Eagle squadrons. This is the second of five...

The missileers at Minot AFB, N.D. are first in line for new cryptography for the 150 Minuteman III ICBMs of the 91st Space Wing, reports the Minot Daily News. Col. Marty Whelan, 91st SW commander, said that the cryptography “allows...

The Air Force’s single F-22 Raptor aerial demonstration pilot, Maj. Paul “Max” Moga, so wowed the air show circuit that AirShowBuzz named him the Person of the Year for 2007. The Raptor and Moga, says AirShowBuzz, became a “game changer...

Planned relocations of US and Japanese forces on the island remain on track, says the top US commander there. Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of US Forces Japan, tells Stars & Stripes that Japan’s Air Defense headquarters are...

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter aircraft lost parts of its tail during a Jan. 8 training flight over eastern Japan. Bloomberg reports that aluminum components measuring 2 meters by 40 centimeters dropped from the airplane during a one-hour...

Full-rate production of the Russian Air Force’s new Su-34 fighter-bomber is underway at the Sukhoi production facility in Siberia, a company spokesman said this week, reports the Russian News & Information Agency. The facility will be able to crank out...

Jan. 7-8, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 46 11 57 CAS/Armed Recon 134 44 178 Airlift 228 228 Air refueling 72 72 Total 180 55 300 535 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...