Daily Report

House defense appropriators voted on Tuesday in favor of providing $450 million to keep the F136 engine program alive next fiscal year, striking another blow to the Pentagon's push to stop work on this engine. The F136, being built by General Electric and Rolls Royce, would compete against Pratt & Whitney's F135 to power future F-35 strike fighters, if it survives. Members of the House Appropriation Committee's defense panel approved the F136 funding by a vote of 11-5 during their mark-up of the Obama Administration's Fiscal 2011 defense spending bill, according to industry sources. CongressDaily reported that Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), the panel's ranking member, introduced the F136 amendment. Panel chair Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) did not support the move, but was outvoted. In late May, the House passed its version of next year's defense authorization bill that included $485 million for the F136. (Dicks statement) (HAC-D earmark list and summary tables)

: There is now coming to light more information about an incident that took place nearly a year ago in which an F-15E used a missile to shoot down an MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft over Afghanistan. The engagement occurred...

It took a long time for the Air Force’s nuclear culture to change after the Cold War ended and it’s going to take a long time for that culture to change once again despite the service’s “reinvigorated” focus on its...

Were it a sovereign country, the Defense Department’s overhead—projected to total $212 billion in Fiscal 2011—would rank 49th among nations of the world in terms of gross domestic product, according to the Defense Business Board. That total is greater than...

Air Force, Army, and NATO joint terminal attack controllers and tactical air control party members are taking part in exercise Allied Strike that runs through Aug. 5 in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Allied Strike is a US Air Forces in Europe-sponsored, annual...

US Air Forces in Europe airmen are playing a key role in the air bridge that is moving soldiers and equipment to Afghanistan as part of the troop surge that President Obama ordered last December. Both Ramstein and Spangdahlem Air...

A KC-135 from the 319th Air Refueling Wing at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., has just deployed to Southwest Asia to support operations in Afghanistan, marking the last time that a Grand Forks-based KC-135 will spend an extended period of time...

Seven members of the Afghan National Army Air Force have graduated from the first basic intelligence course run by the Combined Air Power Transition Force for the fledgling Afghan air arm. The four-month course began in January at the ANAAF...

Northrop Grumman has won a four-year, $46 million contract to continue development and then demonstrate in the field the heterogeneous airborne reconnaissance team, or HART, system. “This contract award is a significant milestone for the HART program as it allows...

Sikorsky says its X2 Technology demonstrator aircraft has set an unofficial speed record for rotorcraft in its weight class. During a one-hour flight Monday at the company’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., the experimental helicopter achieved a maximum speed...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, July 18-19, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 55 146 201 13,613 CAS/Armed Recon 38 168 206 19,004 Airlift 366 366 34,522 Air refueling 112 112 9,085 Rescue 60 60 4,165 Total...