The Bush Administration has decided to attempt to eliminate—for the second time—the alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine, the one being developed by the GE-Rolls Royce team. When questioned about it at the Pentagon budget briefing Monday afternoon, Vice Adm. Steve...

The Air Force has just posted the latest lists showing the number of officers who are in the reduction in force vulnerability zone for 2007. There are two target year groups for majors—1995 and 1996—and two for captains—2000 and 2001. The service has identified 392 majors in the 1995 group that are RIF eligible and plans to separate 95, eliminating them in varying numbers from 12 career fields. For 1996, there are 260 RIF eligible, with 67 to be cut from 10 career fields. For 2000, the service identified 968 captains as RIF vulnerable and plans to cut 173. For 2001, the numbers are 1,421 and 387. (The numbers by career field can be seen in these charts.) Last month, the service said it would hold a RIF board in June. That probably stands, even though service leaders now say they are rethinking whether USAF can afford to cut 40,000 personnel as originally planned.

Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, USAF budget director, explained to reporters Monday that the average age of USAF aircraft in 2006 is 24 years, whereas the average age in 1973—at the end of the Vietnam War—was nine years. USAF needs to...

Next week some 200 senior officers will know whether they were tapped by the recent Selective Early Retirement Board. The Air Force plans to release the list on Feb. 15. The SERB that met in January considered 657 officers—214 colonels...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Senators today that President Bush has decided to constitute an Africa Command. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Administration’s 2008 defense budget request, Gates said the current construct—dividing responsibility among three unified...

Some 300 airmen and six B-52s from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, La., are now at Andersen AFB, Guam, for the latest four-month “strategic presence” rotation. They replaced airmen and BUFFs from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Pentagon reporters Monday afternoon at the start of the defense budget briefing that “the resources we devote to defense should be at the level that adequately meets the challenges of the global strategic environment the...

The 55th Wing at Offutt AFB, Neb., home to many USAF intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets, plans to hold an inaugural ISR symposium May 22-24 under the theme “Leading the Fight—Airborne ISR in 2025.” The wing already has lined up Deputy Defense Secretary...

Northrop Grumman says its final Defense Support Program satellite—DSP flight 23—is well on its way toward launch with the recent mating of the satellite and its launch vehicle payload adapter. The DSP is slated to launch April 1 aboard a...

The two contenders for the Army-Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft program have submitted their final proposals. A Feb. 2 release from Team JCA—Raytheon and EADS CASA North America—notes that the C-295 military transport “has proven itself through ongoing operations in...

The Administration’s Fiscal 2008 budget request includes $86.75 billion for Veterans Affairs, the bulk of which would fund the department’s health care and disability compensation programs. The request provides $36.6 billion to cover health care for roughly 5.8 million patients...

Lockheed Martin has delivered the latest upgrades to the missile warning system—the Combatant Commander’s Integrated Command and Control System—employed at Cheyenne Mountain Command Center. It’s part of an effort that began in 2004 to integrate about 40 systems into a...

Feb. 4, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 12 12 24 CAS/Armed Recon 26 33 59 Airlift 140 140 Air refueling 27 27 Total 38 45 167 250 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance