Surmounting the Barrier
The Air Force is expected to award Lockheed Martin a contract today for the advance procurement of long-lead parts and materials for four F-22s, with an option for 16 more aircraft. The pending deal is designed to keep the front...
The Mobility Metric Quandary
The Government Accountability Office in its new report on strategic air mobility questions whether the Defense Department will include in its upcoming Mobility Capabilities Study the long-used mobility yardstick that it eschewed in the last MCS. Congress noted the absence...
F-15D Crash Cause Determined
A combination of pilot missteps and aircraft anomalies caused the crash of a two-seat F-15D fighter in July during a Red Flag training exercise at Nellis AFB, Nev., Air Combat Command announced Monday. The pilot in command, Lt. Col. Thomas...
Till You Turn Blue
The nation has been living on the ragged edge of space and nuclear capability for too long and needs to invest in the two domains appropriately, so said US Strategic Command boss Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, speaking at AFA’s...
Measuring Success In and Over Iraq
As US forces draw down from peak surge levels and violence dips, the role of airpower in keeping the peace is as important as ever, the top US airman in Iraq tells the Daily Report. During an Nov. 11 interview...
Pretty Good Record
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has opted to pursue 64 additional recommendations—18 are already in the works—out of the 95 put forth by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves in its final report issued earlier this year. The commission’s...
BUFFs Fly in US-Japan Exercise
B-52H bombers from the 23rd Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, N.D., serving a four-month deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam, participated earlier this month in AnnualEx 20G, the latest iteration of the US-Japan bilateral training exercise. During the exercise, which took...
Inching Closer to NATO C-17s
NATO has signed a letter of offer and acceptance with the US government for the purchase of two C-17 transports via a pre-disclosed foreign military sales arrangement, Boeing, the aircraft’s maker, announced Monday. The move is another step in the...
Tuskegee Airman Dies
Conrad H. Cheek, a member of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen, died Nov. 20. He was 82. According to a brief Washington Post obituary, the North Carolina native received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Howard University in...
Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest Asia
Nov. 23-24, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 62 28 90 12,119 CAS/Armed Recon 97 140 237 33,828 Airlift 290 290 42,770 Air refueling 95 95 16,514 Total 712 105,231 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...