That’s how Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morell described the latest analysis of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program by the Joint Estimating Team. Press reports have circulated (first from Inside Defense) that the new assessment essentially confirms that the cost and...
The Air Force’s Fleet Viability Board is engaged in assessing the higher-than-anticipated wear and tear the operations in Southwest Asia may have placed on the service’s EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare platform, reports Flight Global. The assessment is due in...
Frank R. Walker, 66, an Air Force civilian supporting Operation Enduring Freedom died Oct. 28 of non-combat-related medical causes at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Walker, of Oklahoma City, Okla., was assigned to the 72nd Civil Engineering Directorate at Tinker AFB,...
The Senate has confirmed Lt. Gen. Mark Welsh III to receive a fourth star and take command of US Air Forces in Europe. He will replace Gen. Roger Brady, who has led USAFE since January 2008 and who will retire...
Reuters news service reports that Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said last week, after Northrop Grumman officials said the company could pull out of the latest effort to select a KC-X tanker because it deemed the contest unfair, that he would...
The combined Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command Weapons and Tactics Conference (WEPTAC), which met at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., in late October was the biggest to date, said Col. Jon Mott, commander of the ANG and AFRC Test...
The 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB, N.M., activated four new squadrons Oct. 23, adding the 29th Attack Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Squadron, 16th Training Squadron, and 849th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (Provisional). The 29th ATKS, 6th RS, and 16th TS all...
Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, commander of the new Air Force Global Strike Command, visited two of his future units—the 5th Bomb Wing, a B-52H unit, and the 91st Missile Wing, a Minuteman III ICBM unit—during a visit last week to...
In an Oct. 30 release, Northrop Grumman said it had begun producing the center fuselage for the first international F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, an F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing model for Britain. The assembly process began Oct. 26 at...
The Air Force has yet to release its new physical fitness instruction, but it plans to implement on Jan. 1 the new twice yearly testing regimen announced this summer and may eliminate required unit physical training sessions. However, service officials...
Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III, Air Force personnel chief, the service’s physical training uniform (PTU) now is considered an official uniform with proscribed wear procedures contained in a revised Air Force Instruction 36-2903. Airmen will have to wear the PTU...
Oct. 25, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 32 29 61 13,768 CAS/Armed Recon 27 67 94 29,008 Airlift 157 157 39,835 Air refueling 40 40 14,315 Total 352 96,926 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...
