Daily Report

Oct. 15, 2014

Prolonged Friction Caused F-35 Engine Fire

Prior to awarding a $592 million contract for 36 additional F135 engines, a joint Defense Department and Pratt & Whitney “investigative team met and reviewed the identified cause” of a June engine fire at Eglin AFB, Fla., which led to...

X-37B Coming Home

Vandenberg AFB, Calif., is preparing for the return of the X-37B spacecraft, officials told Air Force Magazine Tuesday afternoon. The orbital vehicle is set to return this week after nearly two years on orbit. However, “technical and weather conditions” make...

Criteria for New Medal Announced

The Air Force last week announced the criteria for the new Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal, which Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James approved in late May in an effort to acknowledge and help retain high-caliber airmen in the nuclear...

Turkey Backs Away from Airbase Rights

Despite comments National Security Advisor Susan Rice made on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Turkey and the US have not reached an agreement as to whether Incirlik Air Base, or other Turkish bases, will be used to stage US...

Lone Star Falcons Exercise in Chile

A half dozen Texas Air National Guard F-16Cs flew to Chile for international exercise Salitre alongside air forces from four South American countries at Cerro Moreno AB, Chile. “This exercise provides an opportunity to strengthen our military-to-military relationships with regional...

Fighter Helmet for the Dark Side

Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems unveiled a night vision compatible display for the F-15 and F-16 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, the companies announced on Monday. The new Digital Eye Piece Night Vision Cueing Display plugs into the Air Force’s...

Seventh GPS IIF Satellite Completes On-Orbit Checkout

The Air Force and Boeing have completed on-orbit check out of the seventh Global Positioning System IIF satellite, according to an Oct. 13 company release. The satellite, which launched on Aug. 1, was declared healthy in its final orbital location...

Three Million and Counting

The MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper family of systems and its variants have amassed three million flight hours, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced Oct. 14. Of the nearly 222,000 total missions completed in MQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper and Gray Eagle aircraft...