Status Quo In Intratheater Airlift

Having both the Air Force and Army operate fleets of C-27J transports offers the most value to the joint force of all options considered as ways to maximize the use of these intratheater airlift assets, according to the Pentagon’s newly...

Air Force Nixes Fuel Plant for Malmstrom

The Air Force is calling off its quest to establish a coal-to-liquid fuel conversion plant at Malmstrom AFB, Mont. In a release yesterday, the service said it has determined after a thorough examination that the proposals it received for the...

No Airbus Air Force One

EADS North America announced this week that it will stay out of the forthcoming contest to supply the next Presidential fixed-wing transport aircraft. This means that there will be no Airbus platform in the forthcoming competition to supply the modified...

Shaw F-35s in 2017

The first F-35s destined for basing at Shaw AFB, S.C., will start arriving in 2017. So said Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of 9th Air Force, which is headquartered at Shaw, to the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce earlier this...

TSAT Work Extended

Boeing announced Jan. 27 that it has received a six-month, $75 million contract extension from the Air Force to continue its risk-reduction work on the transformational satellite communications system. The company said the extension took effort on Jan. 7 and...

Overhead Gridiron Guardians

Air Force fighters will patrol the skies Feb. 1 around Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., as the Arizona Cardinals battle the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. The fighters will enforce the FAA’s temporary flight restriction zone over the...

Blizzard Watchers

Airmen and two WC-130J hurricane hunter aircraft from Air Force Reserve Command’s 403rd Wing at Keesler AFB, Miss., deployed to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, Jan. 17 for a month-long stint in support of NOAA’s annual mission to improve upon forecasting the...

New Wide-Area Overhead Sensor in Works

The Air Force plans to field a new podded, wide-area sensor system called “Gorgon Stare” in 2010 for unmanned aerial vehicles and manned intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms. Flight International reported Jan. 28 that Gorgon Stare will initially be integrated onto the MQ-9...

Bronze Star for Keesler Airman

Lt. Col. David Poage, safety chief of the 81st Training Wing at Keesler AFB, Miss., received a Bronze Star medal Jan. 21 for his work as commander of the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team during an 11-month deployment to Afghanistan last...

Air Sorties from SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJan. 28, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 28 13 41 1,053 CAS/Armed Recon 38 55 93 2,734 Airlift 135 135 3,577 Air refueling 37 37 1,275 Total 306 8,639...