Lt. Col. John Darin Loftis, 44, of Paducah, Ky., died on Saturday of wounds suffered from a gunshot during an attack at the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul, announced the Defense Department. Loftis, assigned to the Air Force Special Operations...
A precious few new details about the Long Range Strike-Bomber program emerged at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said in a press conference on Feb. 24 the bomber program would be “a competition”...
While the Air Force has not gone into great depth for planning what it would do if there is a budgetary sequester of another half-trillion dollars from the defense budget over the next 10 fiscal years, top leaders hope that...
Personnel cuts weren’t—and won’t be—budget billpayers unless the Budget Control Act’s sequestration mechanism kicks in, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. In a press conference at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 24, Schwartz said “there...
Sixty-eight percent of all airmen entered service after 9/11, so they have never known an Air Force that was not involved in wars. The high operational tempo of the last decade is the new normal for today’s force, said CMSAF...
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said current operations are eating away at the money available for future investment. Speaking at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 24, Donley said the ratio of operations and maintenance spending compared...
As the Air Force looks to pare down its budget, service leaders must make sure a cut to one program doesn’t have unintended consequences further down the line, said CMSAF James Roy last week during AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in...
While the United States is reducing the size of its nuclear arsenal, Russia and China are modernizing and developing their own strategic forces, according to Air Force Global Strike command boss Lt. Gen. James Kowalski. “It should be clear that...
The Air Force submitted its proposal to reduce its nuclear-capable bomber fleet to 60 airframes in order to meet the overall ceilings on strategic launchers imposed by the New START agreement with Russia, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of...
Air Force Space Command has successfully transferred 48 installations, including 34 main operating bases, 13 geographically separated units, and Air Force Reserve Command headquarters, to the service’s single, centrally administered computer network, the AFNet, said AFSPC Vice Commander Lt. Gen....
The Air Force is eying a combination of “recoverable storage” and foreign military sales as ways to dispose of C-27J Spartan light mobility aircraft and RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 remotely piloted reconnaissance aircraft, said Secretary Michael Donley. Service officials...
The positioning, navigation, and timing accuracy that the Global Positioning System provides means that the US military can take out enemy targets more quickly and with fewer munitions, said Lt. Gen. Michael Basla, Air Force Space Command vice commander. However,...
The Air Force is taking a hard look at how it can control costs in contractor logistics support. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a press conference last week at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., said many capabilities...
The Air Force has its “hands full” with delivering on a few key programs and staving off financial problems, leaving little room for inventing the next generation of air dominance fighter, said the service’s leadership. “We need to focus on...
The Air Force is acquiring three UH-1N Huey helicopters from Marine Corps stocks to replace operational losses in its own Huey fleet, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of Air Force Global Strike Command. With near-term replacement of the Air...
Members of the 45th Space Wing supported the successful launch of the Navy’s first Mobile User Objective System communications satellite. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Feb. 24, carrying the narrowband...
The Air Force’s YAL-1A Airborne Laser Test Bed took off one last time from Edwards AFB, Calif., on a ferry flight to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., for placement in storage at the service’s boneyard for retired aircraft. ALTB, a modified Boeing...
