Daily Report

Oct. 14, 2015

Airmen Killed in Kabul Crash Identified

The Defense Department on Tuesday identified two airmen killed in an Oct. 11 crash of a British Puma Mk2 helicopter in Kabul, Afghanistan. They are: Maj. Phyllis J. Pelky, 45, of Rio Rancho, N.M. and MSgt. Gregory T. Kuhse, 38,...

KC-46 Tests Boom and Drogue

The first Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker fully equipped with refueling gear extended both its boom-type and probe-and-drogue-type equipment in two separate test flights last week, according to the Air Force. Drogue hoses and baskets—the gear needed to refuel Navy, Marine...

C-17s Airdrop Ammunition To Syrian Fighters

Air Force C-17s on Oct. 11 airdropped more than 50 tons of ammunition to a newly vetted group of moderate Syrian rebels, the first step in the US’s changing approach to training and equipping fighters. Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman...

Another Close Encounter With Russia

Russian aircraft on Oct. 10 again flew within 20 miles of US combat aircraft over Syria, an incident that occurred at the same time US and Russian officials were meeting for the second time ?to establish safety protocols to avoid...

Airstrikes Kill An ISIS Leader Every Two Days

Coalition strikes on high-value ISIS targets have killed 70 senior and mid-level leaders since May, a rate of one leader killed every two days, the spokesman for the US-led coalition said. The coalition estimates that between 20-30,000 ISIS fighters remain...

Iraqi Forces Close In On Ramadi

Iraqi forces are set to move to retake the ISIS-controlled city of Ramadi, and face a tough fight as the up to 1,000 terrorist fighters have been able to establish themselves in the critical urban area. Army Col. Steve Warren,...

Airmen March to Honor Fallen Brothers

Twenty special tactics airmen marched a combined 812 miles over the course of 10 days this month in memory of two of their comrades who were killed in an insider attack in Afghanistan. Capt. Matthew D. Roland and SSgt. Forrest...

Oversight Isn’t a Dirty Word

The zeal to streamline defense contracting shouldn’t treat oversight as necessarily bad, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall writes in his 2015 report on acquisition system performance. Kendall writes that while it’s true that doing defense work requires some extra regulations...

Kendall: Riskier Business Needed

After years of preaching a mantra of “leave it alone”—avoiding program changes to reduce uncertainty and lower costthe Pentagon’s top weapons buyer thinks the pendulum may have swung too far toward risk avoidance. In his latest annual report on the...