Key lawmakers briefed Wednesday behind closed doors about the state of the F-35 program said they would maintain “close oversight” of the mammoth procurement effort as the Pentagon works with prime contractor Lockheed Martin to rein in cost and schedule...

The North Dakota Congressional delegation heard Wednesday from Air Force Secretary Michael Donley that Grand Forks Air Force Base will indeed receive a new mission, operating RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 20 unmanned aircraft via a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node Mission...

According to Florida news reports, Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) was successful in adding a provision to the 2010 defense spending bill that just passed the House that would delay the start of F-15 removal from Tyndall Air Force Base until...

The Wall Street Journal reports that insurgents in Iraq were able to “intercept live video feeds” from US reconnaissance drones. According to WSJ, “senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents” acquired the feed via an “unprotected communications link” in...

The dour economic environment of the past year did not prevent an increase in military aircraft sales, up from $57 billion in 2008 to $61.7 billion in 2009, according to the Aerospace Industries Association’s annual report released Wednesday. However, AIA...

Making the Internet rounds is a rumor that a senior White House official threatened Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) with putting Offutt Air Force Base on a new base cut list if he doesn't back the Administration's health care plan. (Michael Goldfarb first reported the story Dec. 15 on The Weekly Standard blog.) Despite an almost immediate denial from White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, who called it "baseless and false" and "an absurd rumor," 20 Republican Senators, led by Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, protested the "news" in a Dec. 16 letter to leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mud-slinging aside, maybe the real news is that fear of yet another round of base closures is never dead.

Brig. Gen. Abdul Wahab Wardak, the Afghan National Army Air Corps Chief of Staff, following a visit to Bagram Airfield to see USAF combat and support operations in action, acknowledged the ongoing effort to “rebuild this country, to stabilize this...

The 97th Air Mobility Wing at Altus AFB, Okla., worked an arrangement with nearby Ft. Sill to conduct forward air controller training for Canadian airmen and soldiers, concluding the first-time effort earlier this month, according to a Dec. 15 release....

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Dec. 14, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 30 24 54 16,567 CAS/Armed Recon 22 76 98 33,663 Airlift 163 163 47,223 Air refueling 38 38 16,473 Total 353 113,926 OIF=Operation Iraqi...