Daily Report

Airmen played a large, seemingly unheralded role in battling the enemy during the Taliban’s large-scale attack on a remote Army outpost on Oct 3 in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, writes defense correspondent David Axe, who is currently in Afghanistan. The attack claimed...

Air Force Materiel Command investigators have determined that “a failure in the rudder operating mechanism” of a T-38 aircraft during a training flight on May 21 caused the aircraft to crash near Edwards AFB, Calif., claiming one pilot’s life. Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke, Air Force Research Lab boss who presided over the accident investigation board, said there is clear and convincing evidence that the rudder failure led to “an uncontrollable yaw and a resulting roll” that caused the aircraft to depart controlled flight, an “unrecoverable” condition in the T-38. Maintenance issues, more specifically “insufficient supervisory oversight and a lack of discipline of the [maintenance] training process” likely contributed to the rudder failure, the AIB found. Maj. Mark Paul Graziano, a student pilot, perished in the mishap, while his student navigator, Maj. Lee Vincent Jones, sustained serious injuries. (AFMC release) (AIB report)

Air Mobility Command and Air Force Reserve Command are working to establish three new active associate flying squadrons that will partner with Reserve units at Keesler AFB, Miss., March ARB, Calif., and Peterson AFB, Colo., by 2012 to operate C-130...

Raytheon announced Tuesday that it has completed site acceptance testing with the Air Force of two operational distributed ground systems in the Block 10.2 configuration for processing intelligence information: DGS-2 at Beale AFB, Calif., and DGS-4 at Ramstein AB, Germany....

Boeing announced Tuesday that its Advanced Tactical Laser aircraft achieved another milestone when its high-energy laser successfully engaged a moving ground vehicle for the first time during a September test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The laser was fired...

The Air Force is expressing interest in a robust, adverse-terrain manned ground vehicle that could be air-dropped by C-130 or C-17 transports or large helicopters into a threat area, then driven to recover isolated personnel and equipment, and subsequently used...

According to the year-end statistics released Tuesday by the Pentagon, all the services and their reserve components met or exceeded their enlisted recruiting goals for Fiscal 2009. The Pentagon’s end-of-year numbers vary from that reported earlier by Air Force Reserve...

Nellis AFB, Nev., in late September became home to Air Combat Command’s first recovery care coordination program for injured airmen. This non-medical effort aims to improve how care and support are delivered to wounded, severely injured, or ill airmen and...

The Air Force will escort the remains of Sgt. Robert Stinson, an airman whose B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down by Japanese fighters on Sept. 1, 1944 near the Western Pacific Island nation of Palau, to Ontario, Calif., on Oct....

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Oct. 9, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 28 34 62 12,855 CAS/Armed Recon 18 70 88 27,427 Airlift 134 134 37,449 Air refueling 52 52 13,562 Total 336 91,293 OIF=Operation Iraqi...