Precision, Not Tonnage, Is the Answer

The recent operation in Iraq for which USAF dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs in 10 minutes was a precision mission that should not be mistaken for indiscriminate brute force, the commander of 9th Air Force and US Central Command Air...

Juggling the Numbers

Building F-22s at a faster pace is one option under review as the Air Force mulls how to mitigate the impact of having about 40 percent of its F-15 air superiority fighters sit idle, reports the Fort Worth Star Telegram....

Maintaining a Presence

South Dakota stands to gain as a future home to next-generation combat aircraft. The Air Force is considering basing F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters at the Air National Guard’s Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, according to a Jan....

Staying on Course

The Air Force says the flight test of its JASSM cruise missile from a B-52 bomber on Dec. 20, 2007 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., went well. The exercise, the second of three planned Product Upgrade Verification flights was...

Next Up

Later this month the Air Force plans the next flight test of its stealthy JASSM cruise missile. (See above.) The exercise will be the last of three Product Upgrade Verification flight tests before USAF embarks on a series of 16...

The Reckoning

The Air Force faces “a political minefield” in choosing the winner of its $40 billion KC-X tanker contest, regardless of whether it opts for Boeing’s KC-767 or Northrop Grumman’s KC-30, writes Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. “If the Northrop...

Beyond Expectations

According to one of his bosses, 2nd Lt. Jack McGonegal performed “beyond my expectations of a second lieutenant” in serving as deputy commander of a Quick Reaction Force and theater internment facility operations commander in Iraq. Lt. Col. Paul Scholl,...

Carrying a Heavy Load

Airbus’s A400M military transport aircraft faces additional schedule slips. Already six months behind pace, the aircraft could suffer more delays after its first flight this summer, reports the Wall Street Journal, quoting Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent company...

VA as a Model?

In an interim report, the Congressional Budget Office does say that other service systems, most likely federal, might benefit from the approaches VA has taken in performance measurement and health information technology. CBO notes that VA over recent years has...

Air Sorties in the Global War on Terrorism

Jan. 13, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 19 8 27 CAS/Armed Recon 59 39 98 Airlift 136 136 Air refueling 46 46 Total 78 47 182 307 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...