USAFE Stands Up New 16th AF: It has been operating for about a year, but US Air Forces in Europe only recently gave its new warfighting headquarters a name—an historical one, 16th Air Force. The new numbered air force is...

On a visit to Ali Base, Iraq, new Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne responded to airmen’s questions about changing deployment cycles, saying he is not certain that the new four-month rotation is necessarily the right answer. He noted that three...

Lockheed Martin has delivered two more C-130J Super Hercules airlifters to 3rd Airlift Wing, Little Rock AFB, Ark., where they were assigned to the 48th Airlift Squadron—the Air Force’s C-130J training unit. A total of six have been delivered to...

DOD has designated Air Force Research Lab’s scramjet engine as the X-51A test vehicle, the latest addition to the class of experimental aircraft. AFRL officials at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, say the X-51A will explore powered atmospheric flight at hypersonic speeds—greater...

US Central Command Air Forces executed a close air support mission for coalition forces in contact with anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of Balad, Iraq. On Dec. 20, USAF F-16s strafed an enemy location and fired precision guided munitions, while...

Talent Protests 2007 DOD Cut: Missouri Senator Jim Talent (R) has been leading a charge to restore the planned buy of C-17 airlifters from 180 to 222. Now, he tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he has learned of internal...

A newly released RAND study concludes that long work hours and demanding schedules, rather than the number of deployments, are responsible for fueling intentions not to remain in the military. Researchers say that members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines value their participation in real world missions, but that rising stress levels created by things like uncertainty over deployment dates, separation from family, feelings of not being prepared, and long hours can counter the positive benefit of “meaningful operations.” The study is called “How Deployments Affect Service Members.”

The Air Force has commissioned General Dynamics to assemble ammunition for the GAU-8A 30 millimeter cannons of the force’s A-10 Warthog fleet, which are exceling at providing close air support to troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. According to an...

Airmen of the 2nd Air Support Operations Squadron’s “Firehawks” from Wurzburg, Germany, recently paid a visit to the Elim Christian Center in Lwowek Slaski, Poland, to “adopt” for Christmas what they thought would be a small group of children from...

Air Force scientists and the Indy Racing League have been teaming to gather data about impact forces that may lead to advances in safety devices for military pilots. What is IRL’s part? According to the Air Force Research Lab, race...

The 386th Air Expeditionary Wing will become the test wing for new fuels mobility support equipment during its stint in Southwest Asia. USAF plans to install the equipment by Jan. 3, followed by an operational utility evaluation. The new system...

December 20, 2005 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 11 6 – 17 CAS/Armed Recon 46 21 – 67 Airlift – – 200 200 Air refueling – – 31 31 Total 57 27 231 315 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...