Daily Report

In a bipartisan 64 to 34 vote late Wednesday, the Senate decided to keep funding for more C-17 airlifters, trouncing an effort led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to strip the 2010 defense spending bill of the $2.5 billion for 10 additional C-17s (see below). According to press reports (see Reuters news service report and Los Angeles Times report), McCain said he would continue his fight to end production of USAF's newest airlifter. The Senate and House still must reconcile their two bills; the House version includes additional funding for three more C-17s. (How the Senators voted)

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Tuesday introduced an amendment on the Senate floor during debate on the Senate’s version of the 2010 defense spending bill that would strip the $2.5 billion added...

The Iraqi air force began fully independent C-130 operations Tuesday at New Al Muthana AB, Iraq, marking the end of the US air advisory mission there. USAF and IqAF officials held a ceremony that day marking the latter’s Squadron 23...

The US air component, like the US ground and naval forces defending South Korea, will be a supporting element to the South Korean supreme combatant commander when operational control on the Korean peninsula shifts from the US to the South...

A C-17 from the 12-nation Strategic Airlift Capability consortium’s newly established heavy airlift wing at Papa AB, Hungary, on Tuesday conducted the unit’s first mission to Afghanistan in support of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The C-17, operated by a...

Air Mobility Command’s future concepts branch issued a notice Monday that it will host industry on Nov. 17 at AMC headquarters at Scott AFB, Ill., to discuss unmanned cargo aircraft concepts. Information gained from this exchange will help formulate the...

Air National Guardsmen from Hawaii’s 154th Wing at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, were scheduled to fly two C-17s carrying about 90 Hawaii National Guard members and emergency relief supplies to American Samoa Wednesday after the US possession was ravaged Tuesday by...

Boeing announced Wednesday that it has connected the Air Force’s F-15E mission training centers at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., and RAF Lakenheath, Britain, to the service’s distributed mission operations network. These two sites join the F-15E MTC at Mountain Home...

: Air Force officials concluded the final iteration of Operation Pacific Angel 2009, a humanitarian and civic assistance exercise, on Sept. 22 in Vietnam. Led by 13th Air Force at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, civil engineers and medical staffs from the...

Helen Weaver, a historian for the past 37 years at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Ala., and a government employee overall for 52 years, is retiring Friday. Weaver entered government service fresh out of high school...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Sept. 27-28, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 56 62 118 12,222 CAS/Armed Recon 30 172 202 26,271 Airlift 249 249 35,784 Air refueling 109 109 12,979 Total 678 87,256 OIF=Operation Iraqi...