Air Force, TAGS Summit Is Inconclusive: State Air National Guard officials aren’t happy, to say the least, about USAF plans to cut roughly 14,000 ANG positions over the next few years, and are trying to do something about it. (USAF...

Starting today, the Air Force is realigning its headquarters staff into what it terms the “A-staff” construct to more easily communicate with sister services and the joint staff. Brig. Gen. Marshall Sabol, USAF’s director of manpower and organization, told reporters...

Air Force officials say that although the shift to an A-staff is driven largely by the need to work in the Joint environment, there is an internal element. According to Brig. Gen. Marshall Sabol, USAF’s 1970s-vintage staff structure doesn’t suit...

During a recent test, a B-2 bomber delivered a live 5,000-pound GBU-28C/B bomb, sporting a new BLU-122 warhead, right on target. The GBU-28C/B provides more penetration of a target than its predecessor, the Enhanced GBU-28B/B, say Northrop Grumman officials. Northrop,...

Connecticut state officials have filed a request for a permanent injunction barring the “illegal removal” of any aircraft from the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Fighter Wing. The ANG unit at Bradley Field stands to lose its A-10s under BRAC...

Airmen and aircraft deployed from Little Rock AFB, Ark., to Southwest Asia have moved into Iraq—to Balad Air Base—to reduce the distance they fly, making it possible to haul more cargo and passengers, say unit officials. The airmen of Little...

The AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface-Standoff Missile program scored two successful flight tests—one from a B-1B and the other an F-16—last week, say Lockheed Martin officials. The tests, which mark the 11th success of out the last 13, demonstrated the latest upgrades...

Engineers at the Air Force Research Lab have developed a “rapid prototyping” capability that enables them to produce wind tunnel models in days rather than months, speeding the process of verifying the feasibility of new designs. This year they expect to be able to conduct 13 experiments, nearly twice as many as could be done previously in “a good year,” says Bill Gillard, experimental fluid dynamics team lead. He thinks the number will go up in future. To create these RP models, the engineers use stereolithography (using a laser beam to trace a form, building plastic parts layer by layer) and laser sintering (using a high-powered laser to fuse together small particles of plastic, metal, or ceramic powders).

National Guard Bureau officials have rolled out a statement highlighting the rise in Army Guard recruiting for the last three months of 2005, saying the Guard is working toward the Congressionally authorized end strength of 350,000—despite Pentagon plans to cut the Army Guard. The Pentagon wants to limit the ARNG to its present level of 333,000. The NGB did not comment on the state of Air Guard recruiting, which as we reported earlier, ended the year on a dismal note. Still, high retention has kept the ANG at 99 percent of its end strength. However, the Air Force has included Guardsmen in its plan to cut up to 50,000 personnel over the next five years.

Airmen and aircraft from the 354th Fighter Wing at Eielson AFB, Alaska, are bound for Afghanistan as part of USAF’s latest air and space expeditionary force. The base has deployed some 400 airmen from the 355th Fighter Squadron and 354th...

This may be a first. The Air Force has selected two instructor pilots, who happen to be husband and wife, to train as B-2 bomber pilots. Currently, Capt. Rob Makros and Capt. Beth Makros serve as T-38 IPs at Vance...

Pentagon officials and service health care professionals gathered this week for the annual state of military health care conference. The mantra was consolidation and transformation to eliminate redundancy and improve response to changing patient demographics—in a word, jointness. Officials cited...

Speaking of medical personnel, Peterson AFB, Colo., has just sent a contingent of its health staff to Ecuador. The 13-person team from the 21st Space Wing will remain in the country, working at different locations, for two weeks. They will...

The Congressional Research Service has completed an updated report for lawmakers on personnel issues regarding the reserve components of the military. CRS provides a complete background from just what is a reserve component to the various reserve categories and descriptions of current issues, such as lowering the age for reservists to receive full retirement benefits.

Capt. LeeAnn Roberts is a military assistance training team leader at Al Kasik Training Base in Iraq, where she is the only woman among 8,000 personnel. She tells USAF journalist SrA. Mark Woodbury that the Iraqi recruits were hesitant at...

January 30, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 18 3 – 21 CAS/Armed Recon 54 4 – 58 Airlift – – 180 180 Air refueling – – 31 31 Total 72 7 211 290 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation...