Boeing has delivered to the Air Force the first of 13 new C-17s bound for Dover AFB, Del. The base sent a combined aircrew of active and Reserve airmen to the Boeing production facility at Long Beach, Calif., for the...

Sikorsky has not been shy about telling the Air Force that its acquisition approach to the combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program is anything but open and transparent, declaring it is “plainly arbitrary” and “appears exclusively to favor one offeror”—Boeing—in a five-page letter sent to USAF last week. Sikorsky says the Air Force’s draft revised request for proposals was “contrary” to both an OSD directive and the Government Accountability Office’s decision that prompted the replay of the CSAR-X award because its ignores “the real cost of operating and maintaining” the proposed CSAR-X aircraft. A key bone of contention for Sikorsky has been USAF’s refusal to consider the “burdened fuel costs” it says OSD requires. And, in its letter, the Connecticut-based company takes issue with the Air Force’s method of calculating deployability costs, writing that the service’s approach is “intentionally overlooking the significantly higher costs that will result from the Herculean effort required to deploy the [Boeing] HH-47.” During the initial performance tests, the Boeing helicopter required a 4.5 hours loading/unloading/deployment process, while Sikorsky’s HH-92 took only “17 minutes on the front end and 38 minutes on the back end.” Sikorsky also berates USAF’s decision to prohibit a second round of questions and comments after issuing the final amended RFP. The company doesn’t think much either of the three weeks USAF has allowed the offerors to submit their new proposals.

The 27th Fighter Wing at Cannon AFB, N.M., has sent 18 F-16s and some 400 airmen to Andersen AFB, Guam, for the latest theater security package rotation to help cover the Pacific region. The Cannon airmen and aircraft will remain...

The declaration by Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania that his plan to preserve Willow Grove as a military airfield does not include commercial or civilian aviation only goes as far as the next election. So says Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.)...

The North Dakota Congressional delegation managed to add money in the latest war supplemental funding bill just signed by President Bush that would accelerate the addition of unmanned aerial vehicles at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., according to a release from...

Pacific Air Forces has launched the second Red Flag-Alaska of the year at Eielson Air Force Base, where more than 1,400 military personnel from the US, Australia, and Singapore have arrived for the two-week exercise. The first one of the...

Nearly 180 airmen of the 728th Air Control Squadron, Eglin AFB, Fla., just came home after having spent the last five months monitoring Iraq’s airspace. (It wasn’t their first tour.) While supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, they were in control of...

The 80th Fighter Squadron at Kunsan AB, South Korea, recently lent a helping hand to some fellow aviators, sending 10 pilots and F-16s to fly counterair for the Marine Corps F/A-18s at Iwakuni, Japan. The Kunsan airmen actually were returning...

Lt. Col. Steve Bowen at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, reached a milestone 3,000 flying hours in the F-16 Viper earlier this week. It took him 15.5 years. Bowen currently serves as commander of the 52nd Operational Support Squadron at Spangdahlem.

May 29, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 18 10 28 CAS/Armed Recon 62 45 107 Airlift 151 151 Air refueling 49 49 Total 80 55 200 335 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...