Stand-in Stealth
The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., last week received four F-16 fighters from the 56th FW at Luke AFB, Ariz., that it will use help prepare for operating F-35 strike fighters as part of Eglin’s new F-35 schoolhouse....
Breedlove Becomes Vice Chief of Staff
Gen. Philip Breedlove last week took over as Air Force vice chief of staff. He succeeds Gen. Howie Chandler, who held the position since last August and is retiring, effective March 1. Breedlove received his fourth star just prior to...
We’ll SLEP on It
Building on recent comments by senior Air Force generals, Secretary Michael Donley said last week the Air Force has all but decided to execute a service life extension for some of its F-16 fighters. “We are committing resources in that...
Controlling Cost Growth in Sustainment
The Air Force expects to save about $3 billion across its five-year spending plan that starts in Fiscal 2012 by modifying its depot and supply chain processes for weapons system sustainment, according to Secretary Michael Donley. Speaking at an AFA-sponsored...
Mansfield Goes Green
The Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield Lahm Airport is “aggressively pursuing” a three-phase alternative energy project in the hopes of becoming completely energy independent, Lt. Col. Troy Cramer, the wing’s environmental manager, told the Daily Report...
New, Automated Process for Active Duty Assignments
Air Force Personnel Center officials at Randolph AFB, Tex., are automating active duty assignment notifications for airmen in the ranks of lieutenant colonel and below, beginning Jan. 21. These airmen will receive an e-mail notification and then have seven days...
First C-130 Special-Mission Conference
Wildfire experts from Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., hurricane hunters from AFRC’s 403rd Wing at Keesler AFB, Miss., and aerial spray experts from AFRC’s 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown ARS, Ohio, gathered last week...
Self-protection Device Testing on KC-135
Northrop Grumman announced Monday that it is evaluating the operational utility of its Guardian aircraft-self-protection system on an Air National Guard KC-135 tanker. The Guardian is a podded system incorporating Northrop’s AN/AAQ-24(V) infrared countermeasures device that is mounted on the...
Texas Tower Victims Honored
President Obama has sent letters to the families of the 28 airmen and civilians who died on Jan. 15, 1961, when the offshore NORAD radar platform on which they were serving sank more than 80 miles off the coast of...
A Sneak Peek into the Future
NASA has issued illustrations of future civil aircraft concepts that could be in use circa 2025. In late 2010, the agency’s aeronautics sector let contracts to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for them to come up with designs that...