Pilot Named in Friday’s Crash:
The Air Force announced Monday that 2nd Lt. David J. Mitchell, 26, of Amherst, Ohio, was the pilot killed in the March 14 crash (see below) of an F-16 from Luke AFB, Ariz. Mitchell, who was from the Ohio Air...
Confirmed, F-16 Pilot Dead:
Air Force officials at Luke AFB, Ariz., confirmed during a Saturday afternoon press conference that the pilot of the F-16 that crashed in the rugged mountains about 80 miles west of Phoenix was found dead in a ravine near the...
Schwartz’s Sweet Spot Remains the Same:
A fleet of 205 C-17s and 111 modernized C-5s appears to be the right mix of strategic airlift, even with the growth of the Army and Marine Corps and factoring in recent changes to the Pentagon’s upgrade plans for the...
Not Ready To Say Uncle:
Alabama Aircraft Industries, Inc. filed a new legal protest against the Air Force March 12 concerning a $1.1 billion maintenance contract for the KC-135 tanker. The Birmingham News reported March 13 that the AAII filed the protest—its second complaint since...
Let the Process Play Out:
So said Northrop Grumman Chairman and CEO Ronald Sugar March 13 while discussing the Air Force’s KC-X award to his company at the end of February and the subsequent legal challenge by losing bidder Boeing. Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box...
Well Managed, Well Run:
The F-35 program goes before the Defense Acquisition Board—chaired by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young—on March 26. At that time, he’ll decide if the program is ready to start on the second batch of low rate initial production. It would...
A Matter of Disagreement:
The Government Accountability Office’s bombshell assertion that the F-35 program has grown in cost by $23 billion in one year is way off the mark, Pentagon acquisition chief John Young told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel last week...
Rivet Joint Milestone
A Kennedy-era RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic surveillance aircraft surpassed 50,000 flight hours during a mission March 12 in Southwest Asia supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The aircraft, which has been in service since 1962 and flown tours in far-flung places ranging...
Going Suboptimal Before Optimal
To meet intra-theater airlift requirements, the Air Force would like to acquire 57 additional combat-delivery C-130J transport aircraft on top of the 70 that the Congress has already funded, Sue Payton, Air Force acquisition executive, told a Senate oversight panel...
Cruise Control
The Air Force anticipates completing the divestiture of its AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile inventory in Fiscal 2013 and finishing the drawdown of the Air Launched Cruise Missile fleet to 528 units two years earlier, Maj. Gen. Richard E. Webber, told...
New AETC Commander Approved
The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lt. Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz for promotion to the grade of general to take command of Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB, Tex. Lorenz, currently head of Air University at Maxwell...
Air Force Week 2008 Lineup
Philadelphia, in late May, will kick off the Air Force’s three-city tour this year, to celebrate the service, gets its message out, and build relationships with local communities. Omaha will follow in August and then Los Angeles in November. “Air...
Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest Asia
March 12, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 25 10 35 1,918 CAS/Armed Recon 50 46 96 5,876 Airlift 161 161 8,723 Air refueling 43 43 2,746 Total 335 19,263 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...