A Seven Aircraft Fudge Factor: The C-17 is in such heavy demand and working so well, in fact, that the fleet is being worn out at a dramatic rate. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, speaking at a Capitol Hill seminar...

According to Air Force Secretary Wynne, wounded troops have a much better chance of surviving thanks to the C-17. Speaking on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Wynne said that in Vietnam, injured troops had a 75 percent chance of survival, while, today...

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) asked Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England an obvious question during the committee’s second hearing on the plan to eliminate the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Warner wanted to know...

The Air Force hasn’t stopped cold on the Joint Unmanned Combat Aircraft System, which is being taken over exclusively by the Navy per the Quadrennial Defense Review and 2007 defense budget proposal. “The Air Force is completing its work on...

For its part, the Air Force is pursuing a new long-range strike platform, which Michael Wynne, Secretary of the Air Force, said could be manned or unmanned, but he leans toward the latter. “I’m a huge unmanned vehicle proponent,” he...

We’ll Be There: Long after the Army leaves Iraq, the Air Force will still have to be there, providing close air support and air defense, Air Force Secretary Wynne told the Capitol Hill seminar, echoing remarks made last year by...

Michael Wynne, the Air Force’s top civilian, said the Air Force is now mostly reactive in its posture in Iraq, having shifted away from “scheduled air operations to on-call air operations.” However, he noted that US ground forces now expect...

At a hearing this week on the Pentagon plan to raise Tricare fees for military retirees, the assembled Senators and veterans service organization witnesses were leery of the plan and leery of the Pentagon’s numbers. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) maintained...

Despite his intention to get an independent assessment of the military healthcare system to “get some idea of what the real needs are,” Sen. Lindsay Graham believes there will be an “erosion of benefits,” meaning military retirees will pay more...

They Aren’t “Pilgrims:” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says there is evidence that members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard move from Iran to Iraq, but there is no evidence of direct involvement by the Iranian government. Speaking at a Pentagon press briefing...

These CEs Jump: Working and parajumping at Manas AB, Afghanistan, are three airmen who are part of USAF’s new Airborne RED HORSE element. The Air Force has trained these new jump-certified civil engineers to create bases in austere settings—hostile or...

Efforts by elected officials in Arizona have paid off with the promise of a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle squadron to be operated by Air National Guardsmen at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, near Tucson, and Ft. Huachuca, near Sierra Vista, reports...

Considering the extensive damage fires have caused in the West of late, Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma got off lightly last week. Base and local firefighters fought a grass fire that burned some 100 acres, scorching areas at the...

Operation Noble Eagle—the long-running homeland air defense mission that has consumed some 43,000 sorties since the 9/11 terrorist attacks—is a stateside endeavor but that doesn’t mean it can sustain itself without deployments. NORAD reports that several thousand airmen deploy each...

March 14, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 11 7 – 18 CAS/Armed Recon 34 20 – 54 Airlift – – 180 180 Air refueling – – 27 27 Total 45 27 207 279 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...