Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services air-land panel want to put all funds for the Joint Cargo Aircraft—the Army-Air Force program to purchase a new small intratheater transport—into the Air Force budget line, reports Roxana Tiron of The Hill. There’s...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has introduced new legislation—the Defense Acquisition Reform Act of 2007 (S. 32)—which he hopes will “highlight the scope and urgent need for meaningful reform” in Pentagon acquisition of major weapons. In his floor statement on the...

The omnibus defense acquisition reform bill (see above) proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) includes a provision to greatly curtail the use of multiyear procurement arrangements by the military services. McCain says, “Buying weapons under a multiyear contract restricts Congress’...

Some airmen who fly and maintain A-10 Warthogs at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., had just one month to get through three months of predeployment preparation and training before deploying to Bagram AB, Afghanistan. And, when they got the word their deployment...

A B-1B bomber crew did yeoman work getting their aircraft on the ground safely after it experienced a catastrophic hydraulic failure; even more amazing the maintainers managed to repair damage so severe it would be a challenge back stateside, says...

The 355th Wing has now become the 355th Fighter Wing. The change formally took place April 26, according to a base release dated May 18. The wing no longer includes multiple weapon systems in its arsenal, so USAF redesignated it...

According to a statement from the office of Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), he has gotten “significant support” for two measures—one on traumatic brain injury (S. 1233) and the other (S. 383) on veterans’ access to care. Akaka, who is chairman...

Deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, are two airmen who comprise the base’s biological augmentation team and would determine which agent was used in case of a biohazard attack, reports MSgt. Bryan Ripple. The two airmen are Maj. Thomas Shaak and...

The Air Force Research Lab has signed an agreement with the Energy Department’s Argonne National Lab to share resources, including letting AFRL “leverage some of the top research scientists” in the country and vice versa. An AFRL release states the...

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, DOD’s new intelligence chief, has now been given a new role as director of defense intelligence within the Office of National Intelligence. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and new National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell...

The designer working with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund on a new underground facility planned for near the Vietnam Wall made public his designs for the new exhibit on May 22. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, chairman of the fund’s...

The Air Force has named its top four civilians for 2007 for the Air Force Association Outstanding Air Force Civilian Employee of the Year Award. They are: David Smart, a wage employee from Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Christopher Nordberg, program specialist,...

The Defense Department named Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Bickel for the best in DOD for financial management initiative as an individual contributor. Bickel is the deputy director for USAF’s new Financial Management Center of Expertise at Buckley AFB, Colo....

May 22, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 16 12 28 CAS/Armed Recon 50 43 93 Airlift 159 159 Air refueling 57 57 Total 66 55 216 337 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...