Daily Report

The 305th Air Mobility Wing at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., on Oct. 28 evacuated its C-17s and KC-10s in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy’s arrival, according to a base release. The C-17s flew to JB Charleston, S.C., and MacDill AFB, Fla., while...

The final B-52 bomber delivered to the Air Force—the youngest B-52H—last week reached 50 years of operational service, announced manufacturer Boeing. This airframe, serial number 61-040, is assigned to Minot AFB, N.D., where it flies with the combat-coded 5th Bomb...

The US military last week conducted its "largest, most complex missile defense flight test ever," announced the Missile Defense Agency. Flight Test Integrated-01 was a combined developmental and operational live-fire exercise that included airmen in the 613th Air and Space Operations Center at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and airmen, sailors, and soldiers operating in the western Pacific around the Reagan Test Site in the Kwajalein Atoll. The Oct. 25 drill (Kwajalein time) involved the simultaneous engagement of three ballistic missile targets and two cruise missile targets to stress the integrated performance of the Army's Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems and the Navy's Aegis BMD element. Initial indications are that THAAD "successfully intercepted" its first-ever medium-range ballistic missile target, while PAC-3 "near simultaneously destroyed" a short-range ballistic missile and a low-flying cruise missile over water, according to MDA's release. Also, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) "successfully engaged" a low-flying cruise missile over water and launched an SM-3 Block 1A interceptor against an SRBM. However, "there was no indication" of an intercept of the latter, states the release. (FTI-01 fact sheet) (See also Lockheed Martin release and Raytheon release)

Officials at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, redesignated the Air Force Materiel Command Intelligence Squadron as the 21st Intelligence Squadron during a ceremony on base. The name change, along with the squadron’s shift from AFMC headquarters to the oversight of the command’s...

Airmen with the 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, last week hosted representatives of the Kyrgyz defense ministry, exchanging information and putting on demonstrations for their guests to foster the bilateral partnership. “This event...

Air Force Academy officials broke ground on the new building for the school’s Center for Character and Leadership Development. “The CCLD building is an iconic architectural concept that symbolically states our commitment to character and leadership development,” said Duane Boyle,...

The first Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command personnel arrived in mid October at Offutt AFB, Neb., to begin establishing the command’s new laboratory annex that will open at the base in 2013. “Now that we’re here, we can focus on the...

The Defense Department will study whether supplementing diets with omega 3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oils, could help reduce suicides among veterans. The study kicks off in January with 350 volunteers, according to an Oct. 26...