Daily Report

Sept. 12, 2012

Seeking a Stable Future

A report from a State Department advisory board provides useful insights into how to transition the US-Russia security relationship from one based on mutually assured destruction to one characterized by mutually assured stability, said Rose Gottemoeller, acting under secretary of state for international security matters. The report "makes for an interesting read," she said during a Sept. 7 speech in Moscow. Building this new security arrangement is a main foreign policy goal of the Obama Administration. To achieve it, report calls for both countries to join together in their commitment to reducing the global nuclear threat. Both should also establish the "gold standard in nuclear technologies and best practices for nuclear materiel security," it states. They must also ensure actions, such as treaty monitoring, are clear to each other and put in place assurance measures that show the value of peaceful interaction over the perceived benefits of military conflict, states the report. "Progress toward these essential components can serve as a set of measures against which to test the progress in developing this new relationship with Russia, and to assess our level of confidence to go to lower numbers of nuclear weapons," states the August report (caution, large-sized file).

Welcome Back

Air Force ROTC cadets took the oath of enlistment for the first time in decades on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Conn. Yale AFROTC Detachment 009 Commander Col. Scott Manning administered the oath for cadets from Yale and...

Spotlight: MSgt. Alan M. Braden

A career assistance advisor with the 88th Force Support Squadron at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, MSgt. Alan M. Braden is one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2012. Braden designed a Career Assistance Advisor Community of...

MAFFS Support Reduced to Two Aircraft

There are now two Air Force C-130s supporting firefighting efforts in the western United States following the National Interagency Fire Center's decision to reduce its request for them from four aircraft to two, announced service officials on Sept. 11. Accordingly, two Modified Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130s from Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing returned to Peterson AFB, Colo. on Sept. 7, where they remain on standby, they said. This left one MAFFS C-130 each from the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing and the California ANG's 146th AW supporting the firefighting efforts out of McClellan Air Tanker Base in Sacramento, Calif. Earlier this month, NIFC released two additional C-130s from MAFFS operations in Idaho. This fire season now stands as the second busiest year in the history of the MAFFS C-130s, said the officials. The MAFFS force has dropped more than 2.4 million gallons of fire retardant in 1,003 sorties over 10 states from June 25 to Sept. 10, they said. 1994 was the only busier year.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Safer Every Day

Accident rates for Air Force remotely piloted aircraft are decreasing despite the steep escalation in RPA flight hours, said Air Force safety officials in a Sept. 11 release. These RPAs include the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and RQ-4 Global Hawk....

Actively Scanning for the Solicitation

Northrop Grumman officials said they expect the Air Force to “imminently” release a request for proposals outlining requirements for upgrading the radars on at least 300 F-16s, said Joe Ensor, general manager of the company’s ISR and targeting division. The...

The Future of Fighter Airplanes

The F-35 strike fighter is receiving positive reviews from one airman who has already trained in it for five months. The F-35 is “really an easy airplane to fly,” said Lt. Col. Lee Kloos, commander of the 58th Fighter Squadron...

Upon Soviet Foundations

Air Force civil engineers and local workers recently completed a $17 million runway resurfacing project at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, an important air hub for sustaining operations in Afghanistan. “Improving the airfield here enhances [the center’s] four mission...