First F-16s Depart Hancock

The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing yesterday started its 18-month transition from the F-16 fighter to the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle with the departure of the first two F-16s for good from the wing’s home at Hancock...

C-130 Review Delayed

Today’s scheduled meeting of a senior Pentagon acquisition oversight panel to decide whether the C-130 avionics modernization program may proceed into its low-rate production phase has been pushed back until next month. Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein told the Daily...

Get in Line

Montana legislators have come forward to urge the Air Force to consider Malmstrom Air Force Base as a candidate to host the service’s new nuclear-centric command. There’s “no better place than Malmstrom” due to the base’s existing facilities and skilled...

Compass Call Unit Hits Milestone

Members of the 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron, an EC-130H Compass Call unit operating from Bagram AB, Afghanistan, last month surpassed 10,000 combat flight hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The airmen amassed the impressive hour tally over a...

Economic Development Plan Progresses

The Air Force announced yesterday that it is entering into negotiations with Tyndall Development Partners, LLC, for the transfer of a portion of the Lynn Haven Fuel Depot in Lynn Haven, Fla., to the company for private development. In exchange,...

U-2 Pilot During Cuban Missile Crisis Dies

Richard Stephen Heyser, 81, the Air Force U-2 pilot who took the first pictures of Soviet offensive ballistic missile launch sites on Cuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, died Oct. 6 at a nursing home in Port St. Joe,...

Comms Unit Picked As USAF’s Best

The 1st Special Operations Communication Squadron based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., has won the 2007 Lt. Gen. Harold W. Grant Award for Excellence in Communication. The award is given annually to the top Air Force communications and information unit. “We...

Beaming On

: The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $30 million follow-on contract to continue testing the advanced tactical laser, the company announced yesterday. The funds will cover an extended user evaluation of the prototype ATL aircraft, which is a C-130H...

Mullen Calls for Mandatory PTSD Screening

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wants all US service personnel returning from combat to be screened for post-traumatic stress by a medical health professional as a means to get ahead of the rising trend of...

Air Sorties from SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaOct. 12, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 27 15 42 10,339 CAS/Armed Recon 41 71 112 29,271 Airlift 139 139 37,023 Air refueling 55 55 14,450 Total 348 91,083...