Lawmakers in opposite camps in the battle of the big airlifters appear to have cast aside their preference for either the C-17 or the C-5 to put their combined strength behind getting the Pentagon to produce a comprehensive study of strategic airlift needs. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a C-17 proponent, has garnered support on both sides of the issue for an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that would require an independent study of Air Force intertheater airlift needs. A key question for the study would be whether the Quadrennial Defense Review-directed fleet size of 299 C-5s and C-17s will be sufficient, considering such things at the growth of the ground force, the use of heavy airlifters in intratheater combat roles, and the deployment of the Army's Future Combat System. McCaskill and her cosponsors also want to know just how the use of heavy airlifters in theater combat operations is affecting their age and the impact of that "accelerated aging" on a replacement schedule. The amendment, which calls for study completion in February 2009, must survive the Senate and subsequent conference with the House. There was heated debate on the House side this spring over whether the Air Force should spend its scarce dollars to revamp the C-5 fleet or buy more new C-17s.

The Air Force will have to pay three contractors that were cheated out of a fair competition in 2001 for the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program when former Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun gave the contract to Boeing, per a new Government Accountability Office ruling. Rebecca Christie of Dow Jones Newswires reports that the GAO rejected USAF's claim that the three companies—Lockheed Martin, L3 Communications, and BAE Systems—already had received adequate compensation. GAO originally ruled in favor of the three contractors in 2005.

According to the Macon Telegraph, the Air Force is poised to renege on an agreement reached last year with Georgia lawmakers that would have preserved civilian personnel classification and staffing functions at Air Force centers with large civilian workforces. Last...

Among forces participating in the third Red Flag-Alaska of the year, which got underway last week, are airmen of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. According to the flight commander of the Japanese forces, Col. Kyuichiro Tanaka, it marks the first...

The Airborne Laser has aced another “significant development milestone,” says Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, when it successfully completed its first of two low power system integration-active flight test knowledge points. In other...

We hear that the Air Force plans to change its vocabulary when describing forces that are few in number yet heavily used. Such assets have been termed LD/HD, for low density/high demand. The new term would be LS/HD—limited supply/high demand.

The 522nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Andersen AFB, Guam, just helped defend the island’s airspace and intercept a simulated threat with their F-16 Vipers. MSgt. Art Webb reports that Operation Jungle Shield provided a quick-reaction exercise, testing the ability of...

Air Force Reserve Command’s 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh ARS, Pa., simulated a ground re-supply mission recently, flying eight C-130 Hercules between Pittsburgh and Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus, Ohio. The second part of Exercise Bold Effort involved a cargo airdrop...

There will be 70 Air National Guard airmen working at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver later this year, provided the Air Guard fills the other 68 billets. ANG already has two airmen headed to ARPC and plans to...

The Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office has just announced that a team of five Japanese and three Americans has gone to Attu Island, Alaska, for a four-day mission—searching for the remains of Japanese soldiers missing in action from World War...

July 14-15, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 37 22 59 CAS/Armed Recon 141 82 223 Airlift 261 261 Air refueling 102 102 Total 178 104 363 645 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...