The latest update to the treaty governing operations of the NORAD bi-national command went into force May 12—adding the new mission of maritime warning for North America. The two original missions—aerospace warning and aerospace control—remain in place. While NORAD will...

A five-man TV crew from the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” has been to Balad AB, Iraq, to interview and film Air Force medical personnel, who are engaged in getting casualties from the battlefield to Balad’s theater hospital and on...

Pentagon acquisition guru Ken Krieg told Reuters news service last week that he backs establishing a space-based interceptor pilot program. The Missile Defense Agency has indicated that its want to develop a space-based version of its ground-based kinetic energy interceptor—initially...

Air Force Reserve Command loadmaster MSgt. Keith Knepp has flown C-130 transports for nearly three decades and recently logged his 10,000th flying hour over Southwest Asia. Knepp is deployed from the 327th Airlift Squadron at Willow Grove ARS, Pa. According...

Mobile distribution operator Amn. Jay Pickle just reached one-million gallons of fuel dispensed to various aircraft. Serving with the 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron’s petroleum, oil, and lubrication element at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, Pickle averaged 1,595 gallons of fuel per...

Included in the House version of the 2007 defense authorization bill is language that would overturn the Air Force’s recently revised religious guidelines by allowing chaplains to pray according to their own religions even in mandatory military formations. The Air...

Making use of the Army’s Military Operations in Urban Terrain facility recently, airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron practiced how they would rescue airmen taken hostage on a mission to distribute humanitarian supplies to an Afghan village—a frequent...

In his latest letter to airmen, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne notes some examples of one of the Air Force’s core values—service before self. Wynne said that the combat search-and-rescue airmen who just returned from Southwest Asia deployments and then passed up leave to go help rescue hurricane victims represent that value. He also said the same of the many Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command airmen who continue to volunteer for service.

The Communications and Information Hall of Fame, maintained by the Air Force Communications Agency at Scott AFB, Ill., recently named four Air Force officers and one chief master sergeant to its rolls. The honorees are: the late Maj. Gen. Francis L. Ankenbrandt, the late Maj. Gen. John B. Bestic, retired Maj. Gen. Rupert H. Burris, retired Maj. Gen. Derrel L. Dempsey, and retired CMSgt. William L. Bethea. All are considered communications pioneers.

The Defense Department often “ends up technically trailing the new generation,” says USAF Col. Hal Bullock, chief of US European Command’s information superiority and knowledge management division. He calls that an “interesting” but “not surprising” phenomenon. Bullock is leading an...

Airmen of the 8th Expeditionary Aircraft Squadron Maintenance Flight in Southwest Asia ensure the heavily used C-17 strategic airlifters and larger C-5 transports maintain their sortie rate, and they also handle some transient maintenance duties for the KC-135 and KC-10...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s approval ratings have hit a new low, according to a new Gallup Poll. The April 28-30 survey reveals that only 37 percent of Americans view Rumsfeld favorably, which is five percentage points lower than his previous...

NATO officials have concluded the alliance’s final report on the NATO Missile Defense Feasibility Study, releasing it to NATO armament directors last week. It represents nearly four years of analysis on how to defend the alliance’s forces and territory from...

US Transportation Command is changing how it moves personnel, supplies, and weapons around the world, per the 2003 mandate handed down by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who designated TRANSCOM the department’s “distribution process owner.” According to TRANSCOM’s top enlisted man,...

May 11, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 13 9 22 CAS/Armed Recon 49 22 71 Airlift 170 170 Air refueling 32 32 Total 62 31 202 295 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance