The airmen maintaining USAF’s fleet of C-130 tactical airlifters operating in Southwest Asia are in a constant battle against the damage done by the dirt and gravel airstrips into which the Hercules aircraft fly to deliver troops and cargo. The...

The ongoing tiff over the rent at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Air Base between US officials and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took a turn in America’s favor, after recent meetings. According to the London Financial Times, Bakiyev has agreed to reduce his...

The last of the KC-135s of the California Air National Guard’s 163rd Air Refueling Wing has taken flight from the unit’s home at March ARB, Calif., reports the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The Air Guardsmen are now embracing their new mission—operating Predator...

The Governor of Guam has created a civilian-military task force to oversee arrival and permanent beddown of some 8,000 US Marines being transferred from facilities on the Japanese island of Okinawa, reports KUAM-TV. Gov. Felix Camacho wants the group to...

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen joined Air National Guard officials at a groundbreaking in Memphis for a new $215 million Air National Guard base. According to Associated Press news service, the plan is to move the 164th Airlift Wing from its...

The airmen of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England, have devised a new method to prepare and disseminate notices to airmen. The old process forced every flying squadron in the United Kingdom to work independently, duplicating work and...

Six Air National Guardsmen who arrived in Iraq last fall from the Minnesota-based 148th Fighter Wing returned from their deployment to reveal they were among US security forces personnel that helped secure the courthouse where Saddam Hussein has been standing...

Australian military forces not only got a helping hand when they needed to rapidly reposition troops and equipment as they sent forces to assist East Timor with its political unrest, but also got to see first hand how to employ...

According to Lockheed Martin officials, the company recently completed the latest upgrades for the Theater Battle Management Core Systems (MBMCS) at the Air Force’s third Falconer Air Force Air Operations Center. The upgrade enables personnel to support the AOC’s air...

The Air Force has awarded two Bronze Stars and one Purple Heart to three combat controllers of the 720th Operations Support Squadron from Hurlburt Field, Fla. TSgt. Ryan Stanhope and SSgt. David Overton received Bronze Stars at a special base...

Air Force Reserve Command has declared that Reservists must wear the AFRC patch on their flight suits and battle dress uniforms by Oct. 1. The practice does not apply to mobilization assistants, individual mobilization augmentees, or full-time Active Guard Reserve...

Pratt & Whitney has announced that its F117 engine program had logged more than four million flight hours of operation in the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, covering airlift missions by the US Air Force and the British Royal Air Force....

No larger than a quarter, the field programmable gate array computer chip has up to 500 million transistors and miles of writing, according to Air Force Research Lab officials at Kirtland AFB, N.M., but it is also flexible and has...

The coalition Provisional Reconstruction Team working out of Bagram AB, Afghanistan, not only oversaw reconstruction of a local school, it also helped find the funding to get the job done. Air Force journalist MSgt. Orville Desjarlais Jr. reports that the mission of the Bagram PRT, a mix of US Air Force, US Army, and South Korean military members, is to work with the Afghan government to build schools, roads, and bridges—essentially aiding the influence of the Afghan central government and enhancing security. Read more here.

June 1, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 4 19 CAS/Armed Recon 32 20 52 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 35 35 Total 47 24 195 266 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance