Daily Report

The Obama Administration is making a concerted push to derail Congressional plans to extend production of the F-22 Raptor beyond the Pentagon requested 187 aircraft. On Monday, as the full Senate began its deliberation of the 2010 defense policy bill, both the White House and the Pentagon sent letters to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz,), respectively, both of whom opposed the addition of extra F-22 money that sailed through the committee mark-up. President Barack Obama in his letter claimed he would veto any measure that includes more than 187 Raptors. Last week, Levin acknowledged the veto potential, but reportedly said he didn't think the President would act on the threat. (Obama letter) (Pentagon letter, signed by Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen)

Have you noticed the strangely heavy outbreak of bad F-22 news recently? The timing is convenient for F-22 foes; they face a do-or-die Senate vote this week, so any negativity is welcome. The bad news started Thursday, when USMC Gen....

The Washington Post’s putative exposé of the F-22 and all its shortcomings, printed on its front page Friday (and picked up as gospel by various wires and blogs over the weekend), was riddled with inaccuracies, according to the Air Force,...

The Air Force also objected to the Washington Post’s loose interpretation of F-22 statistics, and the paper’s portrait of the fighter as overly expensive, unreliable, and ineffective (see above). Generally, according to USAF’s analysis of the article, the Post either...

On the Air Force agenda, says Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, is to have both the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command participating in F-22 total force missions. Donley issued a statement late Friday, responding to the advice offered by Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt that the nation's best fighter should serve in the Air National Guard's air sovereignty alert mission to protect the US homeland. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) had asked the Air Guard director for his opinion on handling the looming ASA fighter shortfall. Wyatt said USAF should base F-22s (and eventually F-35s) at strategic ANG locations. In his statement, Donley acknowledged the Air Guard's premier role in providing homeland aerial defense, saying, "Their role in the total fight is important and through several total force integration initiatives, both the Guard and Reserve will be integrated into the F-22 total force missions." He pointed that the service plans to add to the current Guard and Reserve classic associate units operating the F-22 and that it "continues to work with US Northern Command to ensure the Air Sovereignty Alert mission requirements are met."

Talk about odd statements, there is this one made by USMC Gen. James Cartwright July 9 during the Senate testimony in which he made the OSD case for only 187 F-22s: “There is a study in the Joint Staff we...

That's the message espoused by long-time Air Force historian and airpower strategist Richard Hallion in a recent letter to Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who along with ranking minority member John McCain (R-Ariz.) oppose the Congressional push to keep the F-22 production line open. Hallion wrote: "Merely 'controlling' the air (air superiority) isn't enough. It results in a punishing attritional air war, and a prolonged and bloodier ground war." He cites as example the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, in which Israeli had air superiority but not air dominance, suffering the loss of 109 aircraft, some 35 percent of its combat airpower, and leaving Arab forces free to strike a "heavy toll" on Israeli ground forces. And, the same goes for Britain in the Falklands in 1982, when it lost numerous ships and nearly the war because its air assets were too few to counter Argentine's more numerous forces operating older equipment. The key in modern war, stated Hallion, is "to so thoroughly dominate the air that opponents cannot exercise their own maneuver and defensive options." He urged Levin to "reject calls to cap F-22 production at 187." Further, he wrote that the US "must possess the ability to project power globally, even simultaneously, against opponents who only have to defense their own backyards." (Hallion letter)

The Pentagon Inspector General on July 10 released the results of an investigation into actions by now-retired Gen. Michael Moseley, former Chief of Staff, surrounding a December 2005 Thunderbird Air Show Production Services (TAPS) contract award to Strategic Message Solutions, the subject of an earlier IG investigation. (A subsequent investigation into other contracts involving the Thunderbirds also turned up contract irregularities.) Following the initial TAPS investigation, the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2008 asked the IG to review the conduct of senior Air Force officials regarding the TAPS contract. As a result of that new review, the IG concluded that Moseley: provided preferential treatment to SMS; created an appearance of improper disclosure of nonpublic information; misused subordinates' time and government property; and solicited and accepted gifts from a prohibited source—all in violation of ethics regulations. The IG, which has recommended the Secretary of the Air Force "consider appropriate corrective action," said it modified its conclusions somewhat based on a response from Moseley's legal counsel. (The IG report, large file)

The military services are getting all the prospective recruits they want, as all but one—the Army National Guard—met or exceeded, far exceeded in the case of the Marine Corps Reserve (click on photo for the numbers), their June recruiting goals...

According to a July 10 release from Air Forces Central, US and coalition forces supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during June set a new airdrop record. They airdropped 3.25 million pounds of supplies in Afghanistan, marking the most airdropped in one month in that theater since operations began in fall 2001. The tactical airdrops supported coalition forces in remote locations and provided humanitarian relief to Afghan civilians. In Iraq, coalition air forces conducted no airstrikes that employed munitions, which is the first time there were zero since operations began there in 2003. In May, coalition air forces dropped three munitions to support Iraq operations.

The airmen of the 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron have flown more than 2,000 combat missions supporting operations in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began there in fall 2001. The airmen, deployed from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., operate and maintain the...

Attending this year’s Air Mobility Command Rodeo will be three of the nine remaining Doolittle Raiders, the famed World War II B-25 crews who flew the first missions against the Japanese home islands. During the 2009 version of Rodeo, the...

US Pacific Command’s Northern Edge 2009, which wrapped up late last month, provided two weeks of joint training in command, control, and communications, mission planning, and air combat for some 9,000 service members and more than 200 aircraft. The US...

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJuly 7, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 24 24 48 7,748 CAS/Armed Recon 22 83 105 18,004 Airlift 140 140 25,511 Air refueling 51 51 8,519 Total 344 59,782...