More than half the Air Force is directly supporting combatant commanders worldwide, the Chief of Staff said Tuesday, explaining that it is a higher portion than any other service. Speaking at AFA’s Air and Space Conference, Gen. Michael Moseley noted...

The Air Force needs to be more efficient with its use of airmen so that it can cut 40,000 positions and increase its pool of deployable airmen. (See the “Reality Sinks In” below.) Such moves are difficult but not always...

Air Combat Command chief Gen. Ronald Keys says that new equipment can also create manpower savings. For example, each new F-22 Raptor the command receives probably will replace three F-15 Eagles, creating personnel savings. Further, Keys said Tuesday at AFA’s...

“Kill Something Big”: What Air Combat Command does, it does very well, and better than anyone else in the world, ACC chief Gen. Ronald Keys said Tuesday. However, he asserted, “That doesn’t mean it needs to be done.” Keys said...

Air Force Special Operations Command has a big day planned for Nov. 16, AFSOC commander Gen. Michael Wooley said Tuesday. That’s the date that AFSOC expects to get its first operational CV-22 Osprey aircraft. The Air Commando wing at Hurlburt...

Air Force Reserve Command head, Lt. Gen. John Bradley told attendees Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that he prefers to call the Air Force’s personnel reduction “forced” shaping, instead of the service-preferred “force shaping.” Bradley explained, “We’re being...

Speaking with reporters at AFA’s Air and Space conference Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Charles Davis said he’s confident that the first F-35 Lightning II test flight will be off the ground before the year is out. The new F-35 program manager...

Brig. Gen. Charles Davis, F-35 boss, coyly noted that his enthusiasm for the F136 engine—General Electric’s engine for the F-35—is the same as that of the Deputy Secretary of Defense. Gordon England has adamantly opposed a Congressional push to reintroduce...

Dick Banholzer, Boeing’s director of business development for USAF fighter, bomber, and weapons programs, is still shopping around a upgraded F-15E+ for the Air Force, despite the Air Force’s insistence that only a fifth generation fighter force will do. “Currently,...

There are no rear areas in the nonlinear battlespace, said Rebecca Grant, president of IRIS Research, during a speech called “What Non-Linear Ops Mean for Airmen” at AFA’s Air and Space Conference Tuesday morning. The linear battlespace in World War...

Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, USAF’s top personnel officer, told attendees Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that “there is no rear area of the battlefield today—we are all there.” To better prepare airmen for deployment to the...

The Air Force manpower and personnel chief, Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, says that the Air Force is halfway through “the pissed off stage” for its latest personnel drawdown. He means that airmen are coming to grips with the latest major...

Lani Kass, head of the Air Force’s cyberspace task force, does not hesitate to say that the service’s new mission statement was not widely understood—it may still be a mystery to many. Kass explained to attendees at AFA’s Air &...

Aerospace Industries Association chief John Douglass says the outlook for the commercial and civil aviation business looks positively rosy for the decade, and he predicts an unprecedented seven to eight years of growth. On the other hand, he said Tuesday...

Loren Thompson, a senior defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, notes that, if all plans remain unchanged, by early next decade, the Bush Administration will have closed production for all major military aircraft. Speaking Tuesday at the AFA Washington conference’s...

Loren Thompson also warned that the civil sector might not be around to bail out defense, agreeing with AIA’s John Douglass (see above). The trade deficit was $100 billion in 2006, reached $400 billion in 2004, is $800 billion today,...

Sept. 23-24, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 29 11 40 CAS/Armed Recon 75 75 150 Airlift 320 320 Air refueling 73 73 Total 104 86 393 583 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance