Daily Report

May 16, 2013

GPS IIF Satellite Launched

The Air Force and its industry partners launched the latest Boeing-built GPS IIF navigation satellite into orbit on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carried the GPS satellite, the fourth in the IIF...

Chinese Anti-Satellite Test?

A Chinese space launch this week ostensibly for peaceful scientific research may actually have been a test of a new Chinese anti-satellite weapon, according to US press reports. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported the May 13 launch of a...

Near-Historic Return in MILCON Funding

The Air Force’s Fiscal 2014 budget request contains $1.3 billion for military construction; $2.2 billion for facilities sustainment; $813 million for restoration and modernization; and $465 million for military family housing, said Kathleen Ferguson, acting assistant secretary of the Air...

Investigation Boards Review MC-12 Crash

A safety investigation board and an accident investigation board are reviewing the crash of an MC-12 surveillance airplane in Afghanistan last month that killed its four aircrew members, announced Air Combat Command officials on Wednesday. ACC chief Gen. Mike Hostage...

Spangdahlem Launches Final A-10 Sortie

The 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, launched its final A-10 sortie as the unit gears for inactivation next month. Three of the unit’s A-10s took off on May 14 on a mission to train with upgraded helmets featuring...

Modernizing the Nuclear Deterrent is Key

Foreign nations “are increasing the role of nuclear weapons in their national security and US policy needs to take that into account,” said Franklin Miller, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Speaking on Capitol Hill on...

Hagel Orders Retraining for Sexual Assault Responders

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed that all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters must be retrained, re-credentialed, and rescreened. His directive, announced by Pentagon Press Secretary George Little on May 14, came after revelations that an...

F-35 Flying Hour Costs

Lockheed Martin is working with the Defense Department to find a way to express an apples-to-apples cost-per-flying-hour estimate between the F-35 strike fighter and other fighter aircraft so that Congress can compare them, said company President and CEO Marilyn Hewson...

Get All JASSMed About It

The Air Force has asked Lockheed Martin about increasing its Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile buy or adjusting its buy mix, said Frank St. John, company vice president of missiles and combat maneuver systems. “Right now, the plan is about 50-50,”...

Chapter Displacement Disorder

Wednesday’s entry, Planning for the Worst, incorrectly identified the AFA chapter that sponsored Maj. Gen. Edward Bolton’s talk on Air Force budget issues at AFA’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va. AFA’s Nation’s Capital Chapter sponsored the event. We’ve corrected the...