Get On With It
Get on With It: The time is now to begin recapitalizing the Air Force’s fighter fleet in earnest, Gen. John Corley, commander of Air Combat Command, said Wednesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. “This is not a time for...
Pick up Where We Left Off
When the new Administration takes up the terminated KC-X tanker competition, Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Arthur Lichte would like to pick things up where they left off. Speaking with reporters after his Wednesday speech at AFA’s Air & Space...
Japan Goes for Guam
The forces coming to Guam might soon include a regular presence of Japanese airmen, Gen. Howie Chandler said at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Wednesday. Chandler said during a panel discussion that Japan has been coming to Guam regularly for...
Beyond BRAC for the Air Guard
The Air National Guard has more or less recovered from the shape-shifting imposed by BRAC 2005, the country’s top air guardsman said Wednesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, and is now standing up and expanding a host of new...
Keeping a Balance for the Air Guard
Despite the ability of the Air National Guard to absorb new missions, ANG boss Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley says there must be a conscious decision to ensure the Air Guard doesn’t become a “plug and play” force. McKinley told attendees...
One More Dollar
If only they had “one more dollar,” Air Force leaders would add personnel and upgrade and replace weapons. Responding to a question Sept. 17 during AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, D.C., Air Force uniformed leaders highlighted the service’s...
17th Air Force, Ready to Go at Ramstein
A ceremony marking the establishment of 17th Air Force, which serves as the air component for US Africa Command, will be held at Ramstein AB, Germany, on Thursday. The numbered air force will officially become operational Oct. 1, the same...
Slow Start for NATO C-17 Program
Latvia is the most recent nation to drop out of NATO’s planned C-17 consortium, delaying the kickoff of the program as NATO officials work to secure the minimum number of flying hours for the program. Plans called for 12 Alliance...
Combat Medicine
Lt. Gen. Jim Roudebush, USAF Surgeon General, told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Sept. 16 that the fact that the Air Force has “been at war 18 years, with an optempo that has continued,” has ensured USAF medics...
Willow Grove’s Last Hog Deployment?
Airmen of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 111th Fighter Wing at Willow Grove may have made the unit’s last deployment with its A-10 Warthogs, serving in Afghanistan for the past 45 days. Under BRAC 2005 provisions, the wing lost its...
And a New Opportunity
The California Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing, fresh off two years of Predator unmanned aerial vehicle operations, plans to begin training other airmen to operate the MQ-1 in April 2009. In preparation, it will fly its first training sortie...
Africa on Our Minds
Amb. Peter R. Chaveas, director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a DOD regional center based on the National Defense University campus, said that the close of the Cold War also brought diminished interest in Africa. However, he said...
Thinking Ahead
Boeing engineers are pursuing a concept called the Joint Common Airlift System that holds the promise of meeting the Air Force’s and Army’s future intratheater airlift needs, says Darryl Davis, president of Boeing’s Advanced Systems. During a briefing Sept. 15...
Test Results in Your Galaxy
Flight testing of the C-5M Galaxy, which wrapped up in August, showed about a 20 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a takeoff reliability of 82-85 percent, Lockheed Martin mobility programs VP Jim Grant said Wednesday. The C-5M is the...
Haul It All
The existing C-130J can carry “95 percent of everything the Army wants to carry” today, Lockheed Martin VP Jim Grant told reporters Wednesday. If current Army expectations about the size of Future Combat System vehicles hold, the C-130 will still...
Boom Times at the CIA
To better gather intelligence about elusive terrorist entities, the CIA has increasingly shifted its personnel “forward” into foreign locations in recent years. This has not always been easy, as the agency does not have a rotational expeditionary culture like the...