Daily Report

North Korea confirmed through its official news agency KCNA that it conducted an underground nuclear test on Tuesday. The test employed “a miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force” than previously tested and “did not pose any negative...

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote on Tuesday on the President’s nomination of former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel to be the next Defense Secretary, succeeding Leon Panetta. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), SASC chairman, announced on Monday that...

President Obama presented former Army SSgt. Clinton L. Romesha, 31, with the Medal of Honor during a ceremony in the White House’s East Room on Monday. Obama recognized Romesha for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in helping to defend Combat...

With budget sequestration just a few weeks away, Congress and the White House don’t appear any closer to reaching a compromise. Congressional Republicans on Feb. 6 offered up the “Down Payment to Protect National Security Act of 2013,” as a...

Discretionary spending accounts are taking the full brunt of the economic damage that a sequester would bring, but they’re the wrong part of the budget to cut, said a coalition of more than 3,500 organizations from across industry, academia, and...

Airmen and A-10s of the 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, departed the base for Monte Real, Portugal, on their final deployed exercise ahead of the unit’s planned disbandment later this year, announced unit officials. These Warthogs are making...

Air Combat Command investigators released an addendum to the report on the May 2012 crash of an F-16C from Hill AFB, Utah, at the Utah Test and Training Range. In its report issued last September, ACC's accident investigation board determined that a manufacturing flaw in a blade in the first stage fan of the aircraft's engine caused the crash and loss of the fighter during ground support training. The AIB president reopened the investigation to re-examine whether maintenance crews should have identified the manufacturing inconsistency at the base of the blade, according to ACC's Feb. 7 release. The report addendum indicates that the blade's surface inconsistency could have been detected during installation at Tinker AFB, Okla., in April 2004, states the release. However, the ability to detect the defect was limited due to the lubrication applied during machining work and the transfer of the part, it states. Procedures also did not require an inspection, and were not typically completed at Tinker for new blades arriving from the manufacturer, noted ACC. (Updated AIB report)

After 62 years of operations, the 728th Air Control Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla., completed its last mission and is now preparing for inactivation, announced base officials. Members of the unit provided communications and data to a four-ship sortie of...

Airmen from the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, and members of the Israeli Air Force’s 103rd Squadron practiced combat airlift together with their C-130s in the Negev Desert on a recent training deployment to Nevatim AFB, Israel. The...

Officials at Beale AFB, Calif., next month plan to celebrate the centennial of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, the oldest flying unit in the US military. Today, the unit trains U-2 pilots and mission planners as well as pilots and sensor operators for RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft. It has flown 47 different airframes at numerous locations around the world since its creation as the 1st Aero Squadron on March 5, 1913, according to the unit's official fact sheet. The two-day centennial commemoration will take place on March 7-8, and will "include an array of displays, squadron tours, a plaque dedication, and multiple distinguished guest speakers," states a Feb. 7 Beale release. Gen. Mike Hostage, Air Combat Command chief, is among the dignitaries scheduled to attend the unveiling ceremony for the unit's commemorative centennial plaque on March 8, according to the release. The 1st RS "is the United States military's oldest flying unit" and "has maintained an unbroken heritage from its founding to the present day," states the fact sheet.

Members of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon AFB, N.M., earlier this month began testing a new remotely controlled truck at New Mexico’s Melrose bombing and gunnery range that pulls moving ground targets used in the training of gunship...