Daily Report

Gen. Roger Brady, commander US Air Forces in Europe, said Wednesday at that the latest push to save money should not target people or aircraft, rather the Air Force should cut real estate. Speaking at Wednesday’s Four Star Forum at...

Although he’s generally satisfied with the range of weapons in his inventory, Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser said he’s anxious to get going on a new air superiority missile. “We need to move out on … a fifth-generation...

A comprehensive readiness review of all the combat air forces, as well as a companion training review, will be complete in time for the Corona South meeting of USAF four-stars soon after the first of the year, Gen. William Fraser,...

The services and industry need to take the Defense Department’s drive for efficiency seriously, warned Ash Carter, Pentagon acquisition czar. He told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference on Wednesday that the drive to find $100 billion in savings...

The Air Force is leading the Defense Department in acquisition reform, Pentagon acquisition chief Ash Carter said Wednesday. He praised USAF for establishing a program executive officer for the buying of services and said it has reaped huge savings in...

Pentagon acquisition executive Ash Carter said Wednesday the targeted downselect date in the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition is “sometime this fall,” but no one in the know can offer any more specificity at this time. “It will be done...

Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter agrees with the QDR Independent Review panel suggestion that programs be given a hard deadline by which they must perform. Carter said that until recently, when money or performance didn’t measure up, services took the...

“I would hope we’ll see some decisions about how to move out soon” on the long range strike system, Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter said Wednesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. He called the LRS a “complex mosaic of...

It is “the fiduciary duty” of the current Pentagon management team to hand off to its successors a “vibrant,” functional, and healthy defense industrial base, Pentagon acquisition chief Ash Carter said Wednesday. “I don’t mean jobs, I mean skills,” Carter...

The Air Force is applying the same rigorous up-front systems engineering work to its future family of long range strike systems as the Navy has already used to significantly drive down the projected costs of its next-generation ballistic missile submarine,...

The number of airmen choosing to take their own lives has risen 27 percent—from 56 suicides this time last year to 71 today, CMSAF James Roy said. “We’ve got to get after this suicide piece,” he said at AFA’s Air...

The Air Force intends to introduce hand-to-hand combatives training into basic military training within the next three years, said CMSAF James Roy Wednesday during AFA’s Air & Space Conference. The recommendation came from a BMT review panel, which was held...

Service officials are considering expanding the new Deployment Transition Center at Ramstein AB, Germany, to include vehicle operators and civil engineers who operate outside the wire. Right now, only defenders and explosive ordnance disposal technicians with combat experience are required...

The top US airman in Europe does not think the US should significantly draw down its remaining European-based assets. Gen. Roger Brady, who leads US Air Forces in Europe, said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that any further...

There’s no question that US Air Forces in Europe forces are vital to the war in Southwest Asia, contends USAFE boss Gen. Roger Brady, who noted Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that USAFE assets are some of the...

Gen. Roger Brady, commander of US Air Forces in Europe, speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Tuesday, strongly rejected criticism of the combat contribution in Afghanistan by NATO and European allies. In fact, he said, as of August, more...

Author Richard Reeves wrote the new book, Daring Young Men, in the hopes of showcasing the “country I thought I grew up in,” and the America he knew as a boy. As an antidote to anti-American perceptions across the world...

More needs to be done to secure the Internet, said retired Gen. Ronald Keys Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. “If you come in my house at midnight and the alarm goes off, I am coming down the stairs...

In Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz’s speech at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Tuesday, he challenged both the Air Force and industry to think about the future and, as he told reporters afterwards, to take “a long view.” He...

For the first time in the Pentagon’s history, there is now no new military fixed-wing aircraft development program under way. This places aerospace defense companies in the tough position of having to maintain a skilled set of engineers, some with...

Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Ray Johns said Tuesday that his command will seek to bring all its C-17s up to the current production-line standard, the Block 18. Johns told reporters attending AFA’s Air & Space Conference that this will...

Gen. Ray Johns, AMC commander, said that a study will be done on C-27 performance in-theater next year to determine whether the Army needs additional “direct lift.” If it does, it will be provided by C-130s; there won’t be any...

Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, Air Force Special Operations Command boss, said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that one of the more remarkable recent success stories has been the command’s development and expansion of intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance tools. As combat air...

Most of Air Force Special Operations Command’s weapon systems are not single mission aircraft, Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, AFSOC commander, said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington. AC-130 gunships and MC-130s support ground operations in various ways...

Air Force Special Operations Command is not pursuing, for now, a light gunship concept. Acknowledging that the AC-27 concept had little support in Congress, Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that AFSOC would develop...

The unique skills of AFSOC’s 6th Special Operations Squadron, DOD’s sole unit for providing aviation foreign internal defense training, are in high demand, said Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, head of Air Force Special Operations Command. The command has been working...

The new C-5 transport configuration, the C-5M Super Galaxy, has had “phenomenal, magnificent performance” since its fleet introduction, said Gen. Raymond Johns, head of Air Mobility Command, Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. With it, the Air Force is...

The United States is facing a “significant shortfall in penetrating strike,” and should therefore move forward without hesitation with plans to acquire a new, penetrating bomber platform that could be fielded in the mid 2020s, Mark Gunzinger, senior fellow at...

Recalling Operation Desert Storm 20 years on, retired Gen. Charles Horner, the Desert Storm air boss, exhorted today’s airmen to understand the vital importance of air dominance, neither taking it for granted, nor forgetting the hard-learned lessons of the past....

Today, the cyber landscape is set up in a flat manner, like the North German Plain, giving the advantage to those nefarious actors seeking to intrude others’ cyber networks, much like the Germans used to roll over Poland, said retired...

Years of talk about hearts and minds being the key to winning the war on terror haven’t been met by effective action. In fact, the US seems to be losing the global information war, said Chuck de Caro, strategist and...

Often overlooked in the KC-X tanker debate are the implications for US military personnel if the winning tanker contractor does not deliver the new KC-X tankers to the Air Force on time or with advertised performance, said Ralph Crosby, EADS...

Today the US faces heightened potential for an enemy to engage nuclear deterrence in a conventional conflict, according to Professors Daryl Press, and Keir Lieber, speaking to attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. With US success in past conventional...

A light-weight version of Northrop Grumman’s Direct Infrared Counter-Measures (DIRCM) system is currently under development for the small combat helicopters most vulnerable to Man-Portable Air Defense (MANPAD) systems in combat theaters such as Afghanistan, said company officials during AFA’s Air...

The Air Force Space Command Inspector General finished its evaluation of 24th Air Force and its subordinate units in preparation for a declaration that the new cyber command has attained full operational capability, according to a Sept. 13 release from...

L-3 Communications announced Sept. 13 that it had delivered the final Project Liberty MC-12W to the Air Force, completing the Liberty Project Aircraft contract issued as an urgent operational requirement. The actual delivery took place Aug. 31 when the aircraft was flown from the L-3 Mission Integration facility in Greenville, Tex., to the Air National Guard training facility at Key Field, Miss. USAF acquired the first of 37 MC-12 intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft in March 2009. The aircraft have been deployed to Southwest Asia since June 2009, first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan. "The Air Force and L-3 completed an amazing feat," said Mark Von Schwarz, president of L-3 Mission Integration. His division delivered all 37 ISR-equipped aircraft in less than 24 months, with each one on or before contract due date, stated the company release.

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Sept. 4, 2010 Sortie Type OND OEF OND/OEF Total YTD ISR 22 69 91 17,780 CAS/Armed Recon 14 96 110 23,817 Airlift 152 152 42,844 Air refueling 64 64 11,718 Rescue 21 21 5,443 Total...