Daily Report

July 28, 2016

F-35 IOC Imminent

The Air Force will declare initial operational capability of the F-35A as early as Monday, meeting a goal set three years ago. Leaders of the F-35A enterprise at Hill AFB, Utah, on Wednesday told reporters in a teleconference that “all...

IOC by the Numbers

There are 222 F-35A maintainers at Hill AFB, Utah, now, and 150 more are in the pipeline, handily beating requirements for initial operational capability for the new fighter, Lt. Col. Steven Anderson, 388th Maintenance Group deputy commander, told reporters in...

White House Issues Directive on Cyber Attacks

In response to a growing list of “increasingly significant cyber incidents,” the White House on Tuesday released a presidential policy directive intended to create a “more coordinated, integrated, and structured response” to cyber attacks. The directive creates a six-level rating...

Global Hawks Pass 200,000 Flight Hours

Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft have surpassed 200,000 flight hours, many of which were accumulated in direct support of US combat operations, its manufacturer Northrop Grumman announced. The Air Force’s RQ-4s accounted for 88 percent of those hours, with the...

Air Force Allows Special Tactics Cross Training

The Air Force is now allowing airmen to be released from their current jobs and attempt to cross-train into special tactics, provided they meet the standards for the new career fields. The move, which comes from an April 25 policy...

US Need Presence, Posture in Central Command

The head of US Central Command said Wednesday the US meets the challenges in “this very complex and often troublesome area” with posture and presence, aimed primarily at making the region “more capable of solving its own problems.” Army Gen....

Keeping NATO’s Commitment to Members

Facing increasing challenges from Russia, NATO leaders at the recent Warsaw summit reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to defend member nations, and “we have the capacity to make good on that commitment,” US Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe,...

US, Mexico Exercise Joint Air Interdiction

NORAD and US Northern Command are partnering with the Mexican Air Force in Amalgam Eagle 16, a tactical exercise designed to improve mutual warning and information sharing in a cooperative response to an illegal flight that crosses the US-Mexican border....

Maxwell Reservists Train in Romania

Two Reserve C-130s and about 70 airmen touched down this week in Romania for two weeks of training with the host country. The airmen and aircraft from the 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell AFB, Ala., landed on Sunday as an...