On the Short Strip

The Air Force’s C-17 force has a new assault strip, this one in Wyoming at the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center, where National Guard officials and guests officially opened the newly modified runway Oct. 17. The first C-17 to try...

Seeking Boeing C-17 Concession, F136 Still In Play

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), head of the defense appropriations subcommittee, believes that Congress will include 10 additional C-17s in the Fiscal 2010 defense spending bill, but he wants Boeing to trim the expected per aircraft price tag, reports CongressDaily. Murtha...

Senate Passes 2010 Policy Bill

Late Thursday afternoon, the full Senate approved the conference report for the Fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill by a vote of 68 to 29, sending President Obama a measure that still includes the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike...

Northrop Gets Green Light on B-2 Radar

The Air Force has approved full rate production for the new Northrop Grumman-developed radar for the B-2 bomber. Northrop received a low-rate initial production contract under the radar modernization program in December 2008 and this summer completed the last verification...

Need Watchdog Upfront for Tanker Comp

That’s the view of Sen. John McCain who told Reuters news service at the Reuters Washington Summit this week that he would like to see the Government Accountability Office—or some independent watchdog—oversee the new KC-X tanker contract award. He suggests...

NRO Must “Demonstrate Effectiveness”

So said new National Reconnaissance Office boss Bruce Carlson, retired Air Force four-star who last head Air Force Materiel Command, according to a DOD Buzz report. Speaking in San Antonio at the Geospatial Intelligence Foundation symposium this week, Carlson noted...

Studying Malmstrom Development

The Great Falls Tribune reports that Cascade County now has a federal grant of $165,513 to study land use around Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and its outlying missile fields. Country commissioner Joe Briggs, said the grant “is plowing new ground,” since...

C-17 Drops Indian/US Troops

During the latest Cope India exercise, running Oct. 19-23 and focusing on airlift operations, a C-17 from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, served as the platform—for the first time—for a combined US and Indian military HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump. Four...

PACOM Has New Boss

Adm. Timothy Keating relinquished command of US Pacific Command to Adm. Robert Willard during an Oct. 19 ceremony at PACOM headquarters at Camp Smith, Hawaii. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said of Keating, who has led the command since March 2007,...

Air Sorties in SWA 10-19-09

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Oct. 19, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 26 29 55 13,428 CAS/Armed Recon 22 87 109 28,435 Airlift 153 153 38,930 Air refueling 49 49 14,048 Total 366 94,841 OIF=Operation Iraqi...