July 6, 2009 - Air Force Magazine

Robert McNamara Dies at 93

The man who led the US military into the Vietnam War, Robert S. McNamara, defense secretary for Kennedy and Johnson, died July 6 at his home. McNamara wrote in a memoir long after the war that he knew all along...

New Directive on Air Strikes

Army

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new top commander of US forces in Afghanistan, was poised to issue a directive late last week instructing US troops to avoid air attacks against Taliban insurgents in scenarios in which civilians could be placed at grave risk. It calls on US troops to assume that Afghan civilians are present in a town or village where the Taliban has taken refuge and to refrain from calling in air strikes or commencing a firefight if there is any doubt about the presence of civilians. "We cannot keep going down the path of putting civilians at risk,” Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman, told McClatchy news service. He added, “People want to see changes in behavior." Afghan civilian casualties caused by US and coalition aircraft have been a sore spot in US-Afghan relations. The issue came to the forefront again in May with the controversial air raid on the village of Garani in Farah province during a lengthy firefight that caused at least 26 civilian deaths. US Central Command’s executive summary of its investigation into the incident, issued on June 19, concluded that the US aircraft strikes were lawful. However, "absent a direct or imminent threat,” it advocated “a tactical approach that prioritizes avoidance of civilian casualties as a fundamental aspect of mission success." Since taking command on June 15, McChrystal has said reducing civilian casualties would be a top priority. The McClatchy report appeared July 1. (Update: NATO released an unclassified version of the directive on July 6, 2009.).

Groundbreaking in Ohio

: Air Force officials broke ground July 1 at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on a new $36 million project to expand the facilities of the Air Force Research Lab’s sensors directorate. The Dayton Daily News reported July 1 that the project,...

Moving Forward on Conventional Strike Missile

The Air Force issued a notice last month saying it intends to task Lockheed Martin with developing a “payload delivery vehicle” for its conventional strike missile concept. The PDV would essentially be the shroud that protects the CSM’s weapons payload...

Keesler Gains Cyber Training Role

The Air Force has decided to host cyber warfare training at Keesler AFB, Miss., dashing hopes of at least two other Air Education and Training Command bases—Goodfellow and Sheppard in Texas—that felt they were good candidates for the new mission...

WASPs Get Long-Overdue Recognition

: President Barack Obama on July 1 signed into law S. 614, the bill that awards a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II who flew non-combat military missions to free their male counterparts...

New DARPA Director Named

The Defense Department announced July 2 that Regina Dugan has been appointed the 19th director of DARPA, the Pentagon’s advanced weapons shop. She will fill the vacancy left by Tony Tether’s departure in February. Zachary Lemnios, director of defense research...

Second Surveillance Satellite at Cape

The second of two space tracking and surveillance system demonstration satellites arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on June 25, for launch preparation, lead contractor Northrop Grumman announced last week. This satellite joined the first STSS spacecraft which Northrop delivered...