Daily Report

Aug. 1, 2013

The Trade-Off

The Defense Department’s Strategic Choices and Management Review concluded that the Pentagon could either “trade away size for high-end capability” or “trade away high-end capability for size,” said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday. Under the first approach, the Air...

Strategic Choices

Each of the four military services will build two budgets for Fiscal 2015 through Fiscal 2019—one at President Obama’s budget level and the second reflecting continued sequestration levels, said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday in outlining the findings of...

Strategic Review Examined Three Budget Scenarios

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday outlined three budget scenarios considered under the Pentagon’s Strategic Choices and Management Review. The first dealt with a “carefully calibrated and largely back-loaded $150 billion reduction in defense spending over the next 10 years,”...

CONECT the Dots

The Air Force has the funding in place to upgrade the communications gear on 30 of its B-52 bombers under the Combat Network Communications Technology program, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, on Wednesday....

New Command Chief for USAFE

CMSgt. James Davis will be the next command chief of US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, according to a release from the organization. He’ll assume his new duties on Aug. 18 at Ramstein AB, Germany, states the July 30...

SABR Radar picked for Air Force F-16s

F-16 prime contractor Lockheed Martin selected Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar for retrofit on a portion of the Air Force’s F-16 fleet, announced Northrop Grumman on Wednesday. SABR, a multifunction airborne fire control radar based on active electronically scanned...

Expeditionary Wing Transitions to Commercial Jet Fuel

The 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates airlifters out of an undisclosed air base in Southwest Asia, recently shifted to commercial jet fuel from JP-8 military-specification fuel, a move that has the potential for big cost savings, announced wing officials....

McConnell Pilots Fly Upgraded KC-135

Pilots at McConnell AFB, Kan., conducted their first training mission in a KC-135 tanker equipped with the new Block 45 upgrades, according to a base release. “The jet flew as advertised,” said Maj. Scot Stewart, an instructor pilot with McConnell’s...

New Oil Drilling Project Mulled for Vandenberg

The Air Force is studying whether it is economically, environmentally, and politically feasible to extract offshore oil and gas from land sites on Vandenberg AFB, Calif., according to a service release. Air Force Space Command and the Air Force Civil...