Daily Report

Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, less than two weeks in his new post, already is making his presence felt. Yesterday, USAF announced that he has delayed implementation of an initiative to realign aircraft maintenance units for fighter, bomber, and rescue platforms into their respective flying squadrons. The change, which had been developed over the past year, was set to commence July 1 and be complete by Nov. 30. But Donley put off the move “to have an opportunity to discuss the appropriateness and timeliness of these changes with Air Force senior leaders within the context of today's new realities,” service spokeswoman Vicki Stein told the Daily Report yesterday. A decision on final implementation will not be made until after Donley has conducted these discussions, she said.

Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley yesterday visited Peterson AFB, Colo., and Barksdale AFB, La., to get a first-hand perspective from select senior officials on USAF issues, policies, and procedures, specifically as they relate to the nuclear enterprise mission, Air Force officials told the Daily Report. Peterson is home to Air Force Space Command, which oversees the nation’s Minuteman III ICBMs, while Barksdale hosts 8th Air Force, the Air Force's bomber warfighting headquarters, and 2nd Bomb Wing, a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber unit. Donley also conducted airmen's calls, during which he addressed rank-and-file personnel and responded to their questions, the officials said. Today, Donley is on tap to do the same at Offutt AFB, Neb., headquarters of US Strategic Command, and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, the seat of Air Force Material Command. Donley assumed his duties as Acting Secretary after Michael Wynne stepped down on June 20. Donley issued his first "Letter to Airmen" June 30, citing cultural, systemic and institutional challenges within USAF's nuclear enterprise and noting creation of a Nuclear Task Force to examine all aspects of the nuclear mission.

UPDATE on Independence Day Plus Seven: The last work day for Gen. Michael Moseley as Chief of Staff is today July 2, according to his spokeswoman Maj. DeDe Halfhill. There had been talk that Moseley’s last day in office would...

Robert Seamans Jr., 89, ninth Air Force Secretary, serving from February 1969 to May 1973 during the Vietnam War, and a leading figure within NASA during the push in the 1960s to place a man on the moon, died June...

Air Force Reserve Command dispatched a third specially equipped C-130H transport aircraft on June 27 to California to fight raging wildfires there. The aircraft, from the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., deployed to McClellan Airfield in Sacramento to...

The Air Force’s first advanced extremely high frequency communications satellite is undergoing thermal vacuum testing, lead contractor Lockheed Martin announced June 30. The testing, which is taking place at the company’s facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., will continue until late in...

Coalition aircraft flew 54 close air support missions in Afghanistan and 48 in Iraq on the final day of June, Air Forces Central announced yesterday. A-10s, B-1Bs, and F-15Es remained active in the skies over Afghanistan, with A-10s attacking anti-Afghan...

President Bush yesterday reaffirmed the US commitment to the Nonproliferation Treaty on its 40th anniversary. “The United States remains firmly committed to continued compliance with our own obligations under the NPT,” he said in a White House statement. “Our record...

The British Ministry of Defence yesterday declared that the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon multirole fighters are now cleared for precision air-to-ground operations, adding to their air defense role that began last year. “This new capability is an extra club in...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJune 29, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 24 12 36 5,502 CAS/Armed Recon 60 48 108 16,357 Airlift 140 140 22,815 Air refueling 54 54 7,718 Total 338 52,392...