Daily Report

The Air Force’s newly revamped nuclear enterprise is not immune from scrutiny as USAF officials look to shave $28.3 billion in excess overhead service-wide by 2016, says Maj. Gen. William Chambers, the newly assigned assistant chief of staff of strategic...

The chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee's defense acquisition reform panel on Monday urged members of the House Appropriations Committee to fund the F136, the competing engine for the F-35 strike fighter. "We are firmly convinced that engine competition will be of enormous benefit to the [F-35] program," write Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) and Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) in the letter to their colleagues. Their missive came on the eve of the appropriators' scheduled Tuesday markup of the House's version of the Fiscal 2011 defense spending bill. Over the objections of the Pentagon leadership, the House has already included $485 million for the F136 in its version of next year's defense authorization bill. The Pentagon wants to proceed solely with Pratt & Whitney's F135 to power the F-35 and halt work on the F136, built by General Electric and Rolls Royce.

The Defense Business Board has identified the elimination of US Joint Forces Command as one way of trimming the Defense Department’s excess overhead. This move is among the initial observations from the senior advisory panel’s look into how the Pentagon...

A $1.3 million military construction project to expand the training facilities of the 39th Information Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is now complete. The squadron is currently the Air Force’s sole information operations and cyber formal training unit. The...

The Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Maxwell AFB, Ala., has just graduated its largest class ever, according to CMSgt. Alex Perry, academy commandant. But the next class may be even larger, he said. There were 457 students who...

The Air Force is reportedly finalizing the details of a large solar energy project at Luke AFB, Ariz., that would provide electricity for a majority of the base. The Arizona Republic reported Monday that the 17-megawatt solar system under consideration...

The 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard AFB, Tex., has acquired 13 F-15C/D fighters to train F-15 aircraft maintainers more realistically. The wing formerly used F-15A/B aircraft for its maintenance courses, but since F-15C/D aircraft are the variants currently seen on...

With less rescue missions taking place in Iraq as stability sets in, members of the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, an HH-60 helicopter unit operating from Joint Base Balad, are using their time in order to train and keep their skills...

Boeing plans to demonstrate control of the ScanEagle remotely piloted aircraft from an E-3 AWACS aircraft during the annual Empire Challenge coalition interoperability exercise that started Monday and runs through August 13 at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. “This will be the...

The 735th Supply Chain Management Group at JB Langley, Va., has activated three new squadrons to help it in supporting the Air Force’s combat aircraft. The new units are the: 438th Supply Chain Operations Squadron, 439th SCOS, and 440th SCOS....

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, July 17, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 22 65 87 13,412 CAS/Armed Recon 25 81 106 18,798 Airlift 174 174 34,156 Air refueling 49 49 8,973 Rescue 24 24 4,105 Total...