Daily Report

The Air Force would lose more than 200,000 flying hours for the remainder of Fiscal 2013 if budget sequestration is implemented on March 1, resulting in a devastating loss of readiness, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told members of...

Over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan as part of the phased drawdown of US combat forces from there, announced President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Already, we have...

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday voted 14 to 11 in favor of former Sen. Chuck Hagel becoming the next Defense Secretary, clearing the thus-far controversial nomination to proceed to the Senate floor for consideration, possibly before the end...

After virtually exhausting their inventory of precision-guided munitions in the 2011 Libya operation, most NATO European allies are building their stocks back up, said Lt. Gen. Ralph Jodice, NATO Allied Air Component commander at Izmir, Turkey, on Tuesday. “I think...

The Air Force's investigation of the crash of an F-22 in Alaska two years ago failed to prove that pilot error and disorientation caused the fatal accident, according to the Pentagon's inspector general. Pacific Air Force's accident investigation board originally determined that pilot Capt. Jeffrey Haney's failure to recognize vertigo symptoms, on top of his mental fixation and visual inattention, primarily caused the Nov. 16, 2010, crash. After reviewing the investigation, the Defense Department's IG found that the board's conclusions were "not supported by the facts" in the AIB report, according to the summary of the IG's findings, dated Feb. 6. Furthermore, the conclusions were "not consistent with the clear and convincing standard of proof" set forth in Air Force regulations, states the summary. Air Force officials rejected the IG's assertion that its conclusions were flawed, but admitted there were flaws in the report, according to the service's comments included in the IG summary. The IG responded that it did "not concur with the Air Force response," reiterating that the AIB's conclusions were not "sufficiently supported by clear and convincing evidence." Air Force officials told the IG that they plan to address some—though not all—of the IG's concerns, but drew additional fire from the IG for failing to detail what measures they would take. Thereupon, the IG asked the Air Force to provide by the end of February a detailed description of the remedial action to be taken. In January 2012, at the time when the IG announced its "self-initiated evaluation" of the F-22 accident probe, then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz called the IG's inquest "routine" oversight. (DOD IG report; caution, large-sized file.)

Although the Defense Department has orders from Congress to plan for a possible intervention or no-fly zone in Syria, NATO is not working on any mirror effort, Lt. Gen. Ralph Jodice, Allied Air Component Command chief in Izmir, Turkey, told...

For the past 16 months, Pentagon leaders have decried the across-the-board defense spending cuts mandated under budget sequestration. However, now that Fiscal 2013 is nearing the halfway point, “it doesn’t matter that much” if Congress would now grant the Pentagon...

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test and said the United States is working to “get the rest of the international community to condemn” it. Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb....

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, or GA-ASI, will display a full-scale mockup of its new Predator XP remotely piloted aircraft at the IDEX defense symposium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, later this month, announced the company. “With significant interest from...