Daily Report

Senior Defense Department officials reiterated the Pentagon's message on Capitol Hill Tuesday that there is no need for additional C-17 transports beyond the 223 already programmed. "We do not need anymore C-17s," Maj. Gen. Susan Desjardins, Air Mobility Command's director of strategic plans, requirements, and programs, told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee's finance panel. She noted that the current strategic airlift fleet "is a strong fleet and it is right-sized." Mike McCord, principal deputy undersecretary in OSD's comptroller office, testified that DOD has studied this issue extensively. "While the possibility is always out there" that the US military's strategic airlift requirements will turn out to be greater than estimated, the Air Force already has excess C-5s and C-17s, he said. So far, Congress hasn't added any C-17s to Fiscal 2011 defense legislation. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned Congress he'd recommend that President Obama veto any legislation that does include money for them. (Desjardins prepared remarks) (McCord-Estevez written testimony)

The Air Force estimates that it would save approximately $325 million across the Fiscal 2011 future years defense plan if Congress grants the service’s request to retire 22 of the least reliable C-5A transports, says Maj. Gen. Susan Desjardins, Air...

US Aerospace Inc. may have taken defense insiders by surprise on July 9 when it submitted a $30 billion bid for the Air Force’s KC-X tanker contract, but company officials say they are very much a real competitor. The company’s...

Air Force officials with the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., announced Tuesday that the service’s sophisticated new airborne radar system, known as MP-RTIP, recently arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., for its next phase of testing. There, MP-RTIP will...

Despite the challenges of operating over difficult terrain, Air Force mobility aircrews are setting records for airdrops over Afghanistan, US Transportation Command officials at Scott AFB, Il., announced Tuesday. Plus these airmen are maintaining a 97 percent rate of delivery...

Members of Air Force Reserve Command’s 512th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, Del., are nearing the end of a huge overseas effort. They have been deployed since June 17 to Rota, Spain, along with two of Dover’s new C-5M transports...

The Air Force exceeded its accession goal for June, according to the Pentagon’s most recent recruiting and retention statistics, released Tuesday. The active duty component brought in 1,935 new recruits, four more than its goal. USAF’s reserve components also fared...

Air Forces Northern’s 601st Air and Space Operations Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., is now the centralized hub for managing the airspace in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response. For this purpose, the AOC has...

Airmen assigned to two space control squadrons at Peterson AFB, Colo., recently surpassed five years of continuous overseas deployments to support US military activities in Afghanistan and Iraq. The two units are the 16th SPCS and 380th SPCS. Airmen in...

Russia intends to acquire the S-500, its notional next-generation air defense system, by 2020 to defeat hypersonic missiles and sophisticated ballistic missiles, according to Russian press reports. “The S-500 air defense system is a system that will solve Russia’s missile...