Daily Report

May 29, 2013

Living under Sequestration at Seymour Johnson

The Washington Post profiled airmen at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., looking at what life is like for them at the base now that budget sequestration is sinking in and one of the base’s squadrons is not flying. The newspaper talked...

Kirksey Selected as AFRC’s New Command Chief

Lt. Gen. James Jackson, head of Air Force Reserve Command, selected CMSgt. Cameron Kirksey to be AFRC’s next command chief, according to a release from the organization. Kirksey has been serving as command chief of AFRC’s 482nd Fighter Wing at...

Target Date for F-35A Initial Operations Coming

The Air Force intends to inform congressional defense overseers this week when the service expects to commence initial operations with the F-35A strike fighter, said Secretary Michael Donley. “We owe them a report by June 1st. That’s on track,” he...

Air Force Structure Commission to Hold First Public Hearing

The congressionally mandated National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force will hold its first public hearing on June 4 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to a commission release. Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen....

DSB Report Annex Details China Espionage

The Defense Science Board, in a confidential annex to a report issued earlier this year, found that Chinese hackers have engaged in a wide range of espionage activities targeting US aerospace and defense firms and have hacked into designs for...

We Know Less Than We Think

The information that the United States has on China’s nuclear weapons buildup is quite thin and controversial, said Richard Fisher, senior fellow of Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. For example, the United States estimates that...

Predator Airframe Surpasses 20,000 Flying Hours

An MQ-1 Predator remotely piloted aircraft assigned to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, recently became the first Predator airframe to accumulate 20,000 flying hours over Afghanistan, according to a release from the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing. This feat is the equivalent of...

EELV Program Takes Off

The Air Force has increased the number of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles it intends to procure by 60 to 151, according to the Pentagon’s latest selected acquisition report to Congress. The increase is primarily due to the extension of the...

Schriever Firing Range Opens

Officials at Schriever AFB, Colo., held the grand opening ceremony for the base’s new combat arms training and maintenance range. SSgt Julius Delos Reyes, spokesman for Schriever’s 50th Space Wing, told the Daily Report that the ribbon cutting occurred on...