Spartan Takes JCA:

The Pentagon announced Wednesday at 5 p.m. that the Army and Air Force had picked the L-3 Communications team’s C-27J Spartan as the Joint Cargo Aircraft. The team includes L-3, Alenia North America, Boeing, and Global Military Aircraft Systems. The...

Black Magic:

Eighth Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Robert Elder says there are new technologies that USAF can “exploit quickly” as it tries to make a planned 2018 deadline for introducing a new stealthy subsonic manned bomber. However, he dismisses the idea...

SOF Predators in Hand:

The Air Force formally announced Wednesday that it had shifted 21 MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command at the end of May. And, the service plans to give AFSOC another seven...

One Less Thing:

North Korea may be counterfeiting US currency, developing nukes, and selling missiles to rogue states, but one area where America need not worry about Pyongyang is in cyber warfare, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, 8th Air Force boss and...

Sneaky Petes:

China, unlike North Korea (see above), is among America’s “peer competitors” in cyber warfare, Lt. Gen. Robert Elder told Washington-based defense reporters Wednesday morning. The Air Force point man to establish a Cyber Command, Elder explained that the cyber arena...

Cut and Buff:

Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, head of 8th Air Force, told Washington-based defense reporters Wednesday that the Air Force is in the process of identifying the 56 “best” B-52s in its fleet to receive a new suite of upgrades. Once the...

Cyber Command Stand Up Date Still TBD:

Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, 8th Air Force commander and lead on the activation of USAF’s new Cyber Command, told defense reporters in Washington yesterday that the Air Force hasn’t yet set a stand up date. His job, though, includes making...

Wanted—a Cadre of Cyber Operators:

The “organizational piece is coming together from a training standpoint” for the Air Force’s new Cyber Command, says Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, head of 8th Air Force and designated lead on creating an Air Force Cyber Command. Elder told defense...

Eliminating Overlap:

The Air Force has merged two “overlapping specialties”—aircrew life support and survival equipment—into one new one, the aircrew flight equipment career field, reports TSgt. Parker Gyokeres. Airmen in these fields will undergo two months of cross utilization training before becoming...

Missing Major Takes Sabbatical:

The Air Force has decided to let Maj. Jill Metzger take an 18-month leave, according to the Associated Press news service. Metzger is the airman who said she was kidnapped over a three-day period she was missing in Kyrgyzstan last...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

June 11-12, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 32 20 52 CAS/Armed Recon 113 80 193 Airlift 311 311 Air refueling 92 92 Total 145 100 403 648 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...