Daily Report

Dec. 5, 2007

Has the Tanker Scale Tipped Already?

If an analyst with the Teal Group in Virginia is correct, Boeing has the edge over competitor Northrop Grumman in the bid to build USAF’s next tanker. Reuters news service reports that Richard Aboulafia, Teal VP, speaking at the Reuters...

Utah Range Expansion Inches Forward

The commander of the 388th Range Squadron, Col. James Reed, said the Air Force is proceeding with the next step toward increasing the airspace available to the Utah Test and Training Range. The proposal has been somewhat controversial since the...

Scavenged Parts Put Bone in Air Again

Airmen—blue suit and civilian—have taken some extraordinary steps to get a damaged B-1B bomber in condition to fly from Andersen AFB, Guam, where it has remained for about two years since it suffered a brake failure and subsequent extensive fire...

A Special Leaflet Drop Request

The 40th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron airdropped about one million leaflets from a C-130 flying over 10 drop zones in Iraq. A Polish psychological operations unit in Iraq asked for the special drop to ask Iraqi citizens to help locate three...

Money Coming in Arkansas?

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has said that American Eagle Communities announced it would pay some of the subcontractors and suppliers it owes for work on the now-stalled housing privatization effort at Little Rock Air Force Base. Pryor and Sen. Saxby...

New Russian Bombers on Their Way

According to RIA Novosti news agency, the Russian Air Force could have the first six of 20 upgraded Su-24 tactical bombers next week. The other 14 would follow “in the near future,” according to a spokesman. Moscow expects eventually to...

When It Just Has To Get There

The airmen supporting the National Science Foundation research mission in Antarctica are critical. In fact, NSF representative Mike Scheuermann said, “We couldn’t do it without them.” He expressed amazement that the C-17s providing the strategic airlift from New Zealand to...

Thanks and Goodbye:

The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star medal to Capt. Jason Hamman for his actions while deployed with a US Army unit in Iraq, reports TV13. Hamman deployed from the 78th Security Forces Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga. The...

Acrojets Founder Dies:

Retired Col. Leon Gray, a World War II reconnaissance pilot and founder of an aerial demonstration team that helped pave the way for the Thunderbirds, died Nov. 26 at age 94, reports the Arizona Daily Star. Gray led a reconnaissance...

A New-Old Look:

There is new life in the World War II-era 13th Air Expeditionary Group, as 13th Air Force reactivated the group to become the air component of the Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica—which manages Operation Deep Freeze each year. According to...

F-16 Tests New Boost-Phase Interceptor:

The Missile Defense Agency just successfully tested an AIM-9X missile modified with the Raytheon-developed Net-Centric Airborne Defense Element, firing it from an F-16 to intercept a boosting rocket used as a target boost-phase missile. According to an MDA release, the...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Dec. 2, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 30 10 40 CAS/Armed Recon 39 39 78 Airlift 133 133 Air refueling 39 39 Total 69 49 172 290 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...