Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has promised “to make every effort to get [two key Air Force] confirmations completed this week.” Levin, who chairs the Armed Services Committee made that statement Sept. 23 when prompted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during...

For Defense Secretary Robert Gates punting the KC-X tanker program to the next Administration was the logical choice. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee Sept. 23, “I didn’t like the smell of approving a potentially hundred billion dollar contract...

Asked about the source of the increased activity and lethality of enemy forces in Afghanistan during a Sept. 23 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright attributed it partly to advisers from outside Afghanistan “that are there...

The Air Force provided two B-52 bombers, crewed by Air Force Reserve Command’s 93rd Bomb Squadron and Air Combat Command’s 96th BS, to aid post-Hurricane Ike reconnaissance efforts. The two bombers, both from Barksdale AFB, La., took more than 700...

On Sept. 24, the House passed the Fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill by a vote of 392 to 39, sending it over to the Senate. The day before, the chairmen of the Armed Services Committees announced that House and Senate conferees had reached agreement on the legislation, which authorizes nearly the dollar figure in President Bush's request—$612.5 billion—but rearranges the allocation. For instance, conferees upped the military pay raise by half a percent, providing a 3.9 percent increase, and prohibited the Administration from raising Tricare fees in 2009, increasing the defense health program funding by $1.2 billion to cover the difference. Lawmakers also authorized $495 million in research & development and $35 million in advance procurement to continue—against Administration wishes—the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine, the GE-Rolls Royce F136. The conferees squared the Air Force's top 2009 unfunded priority, adding $96.9 million to cover B-52 flying hours and depot maintenance to sustain a common-configuration force of 76 B-52s. And, checking off another USAF unfunded item, the measure authorizes $2.1 billion for six C-17s. (HASC highlights and SASC release)

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) met with Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, on Sept. 23 to discuss the way ahead for USAF and Air National Guard forces in North Dakota. In a statement, Conrad called the conversation “frank...

Two communities in the Florida panhandle have contrasting views of the Air Force’s plan to make Eglin Air Force Base a joint training site for F-35 operations. Valparaiso has gone so far as to launch legal action to get documentation...

Oklahoma Air National Guardsman Maj. Dan Rooney received a President’s Volunteer Service Award and got it hand-delivered by President Bush himself during Bush’s stopover at Tinker AFB, Okla., earlier this month. Rooney was just about to deploy for his third...

The Air Force on Sept. 23 presented a ceremonial key to the city of Galena for its forward operating location at Galena Airport in Alaska, carrying out a BRAC 2005 action that went largely unopposed. The Galena facility has operated...

Veteran Affairs has a new procedure in place to evaluate traumatic brain injury and burn scars to better determine “the appropriate level of compensation,” according to a Sept. 23 release. Changes in scientific and medical knowledge prompted the VA to...