Hard Deadline:

Boeing will have to start shutting down work on C-17 long-lead parts by Aug. 18, unless it receives a “clear commitment” from the Air Force that the service will pursue more of the aircraft. So says Dan Page, Boeing’s director...

Ripple Effect:

The Air Force still is evaluating efforts to modernize C-5 airlifters, which if successful, officials say could offset a reduced buy of C-17s. However, Boeing has not developed formal estimates of what it would cost to reconstitute the C-17 line...

Let’s Not Ignore “Inconvenient Facts”

Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr., deciding to take on publicly the latest “policy wonk” to belittle airpower, wrote a letter which appeared in Thursday’s Washington Post in response to a July 25 op-ed penned by Philip Gordon, senior...

Going With One Tanker Vendor?

The Air Force may want to award only one contractor to build its new fleet of air refueling aircraft, so Boeing VP for tankers Mark McGraw told reporters Wednesday. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McGraw gleaned that insight from...

The Latest Air Force Doctrine Arrives:

The Air Force Doctrine Center has now posted the 2006 version of Air Force Doctrine Document 2 on its Web site. In this first update since early 2002, only a few months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Air...

Ready to Let Loose Those SDBs

The air and ground crews of 48th Fighter Wing at RAF, Lakenheath, England, are ready to employ the Air Force’s latest munition—the GBU-39 or Small Diameter Bomb. Munitions maintainers getting schooled in the new weapon have marveled at how easy...

20,000 Cyberspace Defenders

“I found out we have over 20,000 people working in cyberspace,” said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne at a recent Senior Leadership Orientation Course in Washington. “We are the logisticians of information,” he said, adding, “we pick it up everywhere”...

Hundreds of Civilians Opt Out at Hill

More than 760 civil service employees at Hill AFB, Utah, applied for voluntary termination on the first day of a new voluntary early retirement and early separation incentive program, reports the Hilltop Times. They hope to take advantage of a...

There Will Be Tech Sharing on the F-35

It appears that President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair stuck to their May declaration of technical cooperation for the F-35 Lightning II. US and British defense officials signed a formal pact on technology transfer for the F-35...

Revamped Runway at Ramstein

The north runway at Ramstein AB, Germany, is undergoing reconstruction and work is ahead of schedule. The Air Force has undertaken a three-phase, $20 million refurbishment that will add 1,000 extra feet and allow heavier transports to take off when...

Almost Clean

Clean-up efforts at the former Kelly Air Force Base near San Antonio, Tex., are 69 percent done, the San Antonio Business Journal reports. Kelly’s shallow groundwater area is contaminated with a chemical called trichloroethylene that was used to clean and...

Catch ’Em When They Can

The aerial port airman at RAF Mildenhall, England, have somewhat of a dilemma: They work with a wide variety of aircraft that transit the base, but they have little chance to maintain their training with these aircraft. Consequently, they “mob”...

Plugging the Pay Gap for Guard and Reserve:

Once they are called to active duty, Guard and Reserve members often sustain a wage gap between their active duty monthly salary and their higher, pre-mobilization monthly salary. To help alleviate any “differential of more than $50,” reservists can apply...

USAF Shifts Civilians to Texas Personnel Center:

The Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Tex., stands to gain 170 civilian personnel positions from personnel operations at Bolling AFB, D.C.; Hill AFB, Utah; Robins AFB, Ga.; Tinker AFB, Okla.; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Air Force manpower and...

Turkey Wants Vipers:

Turkey wants to buy a squadron of USAF F-16 Vipers, a move that could spell an end to the planned upgrade of 48 F-4E fighter aircraft by Israel, according to Turkish Daily News. (It’s neighbor and sometimes nemesis, Greece, late...

Counting Their Chickens?:

Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps officials believe that Congress is going to approve legislation this year that would open the way for National Guard and Reserve retirees to serve as JROTC instructors. They believe it so strongly that...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Aug. 2, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 14 6 20 CAS/Armed Recon 44 22 66 Airlift 160 160 Air refueling 37 37 Total 58 28 197 283 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance