Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley insist that they have not backed off the requirement for 1,763 Joint Strike Fighters for USAF. Talking with reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference yesterday, Moseley said...

Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley said the Air Force has “no incentive to go back” to buying any more F-15s or F-16s. Money spent on new old airplanes is going in the wrong direction, he told reporters at...

Expressing cautious optimism that Congress will finally acquiesce to USAF retiring the B-52s it wants to let go of, Air Force Secretary Wynne said Monday at the AFA conference in Washington, “Even the most ardent supporters of the B-52 agree...

Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley said he’s killed the B-52 Standoff Jammer project once—when its cost ballooned from $1 billion to $7 billion—and he’s prepared to do it again if requirements get out of hand. Moseley told reporters...

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne reports that he’s hopeful that World Trade Organization issues swirling around the aerial tanker competition will all be resolved by the time a contract is awarded next summer. Subsidy issues with European aircraft—affecting the Northrop...

If the Air Force buys new aerial refueling tankers with the “doors, floors, and defensive systems” that US Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command desire, those aircraft will streamline the airlift process but will not eliminate the need for upgraded...

AMC chief Gen. Duncan McNabb said it will take somewhere between $22 million and $25 million per aircraft to refurbish AMC’s grounded C-130E-model aircraft with everything those old Hercs need to be viable weapons systems. Avionics, engines, and center wing...

Airpower advocates are used to paraphrasing retired Gen. Chuck Horner, air boss of the first Gulf War, that little can be achieved in modern warfare without airpower. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, offering the keynote address at the AFA convention...

The Air Force won’t stop building “basic” MQ-1 Predators for a while, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said. Moseley told reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Monday that USAF will buy MQ-1s and their more powerful...

Darryl Davis, Boeing’s head of advanced precision engagement and mobility systems, said today at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that of all the options to get a long range strike capability “on the ramp” by 2018, a hypersonic...

Setting aside hypersonic flight, Boeing’s Darryl Davis says a supersonic platform is well within the realm of the possible by 2018. However, a supersonic, intercontinental platform would probably weigh two to 2.5 times as much as a subsonic platform, Davis...

As he went down each program on Boeing’s various strike and airlift programs, Darryl Davis, head of the company’s advanced precision engagement and mobility systems, usually concluded with a comment that funding is uncertain. “Based on what we hear …...

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said in a press conference Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that, when the service awards a contract for tankers next July, it will be to one, not two companies. USAF had...

The Air Force’s two top leaders are “grateful” that Congress wants to add 10 more C-17s to its fleet, but they want to ensure lawmakers understand that getting the tanker replacement program going is a priority also. Air Force Secretary...

Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, head of US Transportation Command, said Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that the 10 additional C-17s likely to be approved by Congress won’t throw a monkey wrench into plans for the Civil Reserve...

AMC’s Force Multipliers: Air Mobility Command’s Gen. Duncan McNabb has been hard at work figuring out how he can make America’s “air bridge” more effective in an era of high ops tempo and slim budgets, he explained during his talk...

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne noted Monday during AFA’s Air and Space Conference that 70 percent of high school seniors who earn Air Force ROTC scholarships earn them in technical fields. The Secretary emphasized that it is essential to encourage...

CMSAF Rodney J. McKinley, the Air Force’s top enlisted man, told Air Force Magazine, that the service must advance its planned cut of 40,000 personnel to free up dollars earlier to pay for things like fuel. “We can’t afford to...

According to the Air Force’s top enlisted airman, CMSAF Rodney McKinley, “One thing we haven’t done well is to tell our story.” So, USAF will build on its initial “Air Force Week” event in St. Louis and hopes to expand...

A panel of command chiefs fielded questions from enlisted and officers alike yesterday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington. Asked what advice they would give to enlisted airmen contemplating applying for a college degree and seeking officer status,...

Long-Range Strike may have a future, depending on who you ask. During a panel discussion titled “Does Long Strike Have a Future?” yesterday at AFA’s Air and Space Conference in Washington, three panelists debated the reality of a potential new...

Lockheed Martin is finding ways to leverage the considerable investment the company made into the Joint Strike Fighter program by spinning off capabilities that can be embedded in other platforms, Don Bolling, manager of advanced targeting systems business development in...

Veterans Affairs has the largest integrated health system in the US, said VA Secretary James Nicholson yesterday at AFA’s Air and Space Conference in Washington. Speaking about the three legs of the VA, which also includes benefits and burial, Nicholson...

Air National Guard officials have just received the first upgraded A-10s—now designated A-10C—but already are raving about the enhancements. ANG Lt. Col. Kevin Campbell, A-10C test pilot and program manager, told reporters Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, “It’s...

Air National Guard Lt. Col. Kevin Campbell, who flew the Warthog in Afghanistan, told reporters Monday at AFA’s Washington conference that the upgraded A-10C should start carrying Joint Direct Attack Munitions this fall and get the Wind-Corrected Munition Dispenser sometime...

Northrop Grumman officials are quick to establish that the now-mainstream moniker UAV does not necessarily mean small. The maker of USAF’s Global Hawk—the Air Force’s next generation high-altitude unmanned intelligence- surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft—pointed out to reporters Monday at AFA’s Air &...

The Block 20 Global Hawks—airframes AF-8 through AF-12—are under construction and recently completed wing strength testing at Northrop Grumman’s Dallas facility where the aircraft’s wing held fast at up to 130 percent of the Global Hawk’s full weight, validating the...

Sept. 22, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 6 21 CAS/Armed Recon 42 46 88 Airlift 170 170 Air refueling 40 40 Total 57 52 210 319 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance