Daily Report

The Air Force is requesting $119 billion in its Fiscal 2012 baseline budget proposal released Monday, plus another $16.4 billion to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That $135.4 billion for Air Force-specific programs grows to a total of...

President Obama on Monday asked the Congress to provide $671 billion for the Defense Department in Fiscal 2012. This request includes $553 billion in discretionary budget authority to fund base defense programs and $118 billion to support overseas contingency operations,...

The Pentagon is requesting $200 million in Fiscal 2012 for the Air Force to launch a new bomber program—about the same it would get under the Fiscal 2011 budget request—and plans to spend $3.7 billion on the aircraft across the...

With a final formation flyby, 11 aircraft left Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday for nearby Joint Base Elmendorf, signaling the official move of Kulis’ 176th Wing to Elmendorf and ending operations at Kulis, per BRAC...

China's rollout of the stealthy J-20 aircraft at the end of last year did not catch the US intelligence community off guard, said James Clapper, director of national intelligence, last week. "We have known about this program for a long time and the flight test was not a surprise," he said in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He continued, "We judge that this event is another indication of China's aspiration to develop a world-class military, and it is a capability we take seriously. But this program, like others in China, will have to overcome a number of hurdles before reaching its full potential." China unveiled the J-20 in late December and it flew for the first time—coincidentally, of course—during Defense Secretary Robert Gates' official visit to China in early January. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell has said US officials aren't certain at this point how stealthy or capable the J-20 design really is. (Clapper's prepared remarks)

The Air Force will soon begin training airmen on what is expected of them once the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy takes effect. “I know our airmen will approach this issue professionally, and will continue to adhere...

A defense budget expert said last week the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2012 spending request, set for release Monday, will have to include a significant increase for long-range strike over last year’s proposed budget plan if the Defense Department is serious about...

Funding high priority programs, such as the Air Force’s future long-range strike platform, through anticipated efficiency savings is risky business, said Todd Harrison, a budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C. Rarely do events...

William Wrenn, a B-24 bomber pilot during World War II, has posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross for a reconnaissance mission over the Philippines that he and his crew carried out prior to the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October...

Dominican air force pilots, radar controllers, and officials visited Air Forces Southern’s combined air and space operations center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., along with the 309th Fighter Squadron and 607th Air Control Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, also in...

Members of the 81st Training Support Squadron at Keesler AFB, Miss., generated a full-scale mockup of the GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition using a new process known as fused deposition modeling. This process entails using a computer-controlled machine to layer...

Adam Mattocks, pilot aboard the B-52 that crashed on Jan. 24, 1961, in eastern North Carolina, last week gathered with crash witnesses and first responders at the mishap scene to remember the three airmen who perished that day. Five airmen...