Daily Report

July 15, 2015

Russia, Not ISIS, Biggest Threat to US

Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, the nominee to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that Russia, not ISIS, poses the biggest threat to the US homeland. In...

Leveling the T-X Playing Field

The Air Force “wanted off-the-shelf solutions” to the T-X trainer requirement, but didn’t want to exclude clean-sheet designs, so cost will likely be a key factor in choosing the winning design, said William LaPlante, Air Force acquisition chief, in an...

Making Prototyping Work

Pentagon leaders plan to do a lot more prototyping in order to rebuild the US technology lead, but the trick now is to give the technology consistency and a place to go, Air Force acquisition chief William LaPLante said in...

The Pilot Inventory Problem

Gen. Paul Selva told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday a potential pilot shortage likely will become a “readiness issue,” though he acknowledged “it is not upon us” yet. Selva, the nominee to be vice chairman of...

USAF Looks to Keep New Moms in the Service

Airmen who recently gave birth now will have one year to pass their fitness test, instead of the previous six-month deferment, announced Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on Tuesday. The service also increased deferment for deployments, short tours, dependent-restricted...

Pay Another Day

The Secretary of the Air Force opted not to follow the service’s optimal distribution of C-130s to gain short-term savings, according to a July 13 Government Accountability Office report. The Air Force’s six-year C-130 force structure report stated that shifting...

Little Rock’s Last, and Lasting Legacy

The 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock AFB, Ark., recently flew its final legacy C-130H training sortie before it transitions to the C-130J over the next few months, officials announced. The Active Duty wing has already handed-off C-130H pilot and...

Different, and Yet the Same

The 43rd Airlift Group streamlined its unit structure by combining several previous squadrons into two, newly activated ones during a ceremony at Pope Field, N.C., July 1. The group stood up the 43rd Air Mobility Squadron to replace the groups’...

First Ospreys for Japan

The Navy awarded a Bell Helicopter, Textron, and Boeing team a contract for five V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for Japan, according to a July 14 Bell Boeing release. The contract marks the first foreign military sale of the aircraft. “The...