Just in case everyone wasn’t already clear on this, the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter replacement project (CSAR-X) is definitely dead and isn’t coming back. In an interview, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said that “a successor model” of...

Although the Pentagon’s new Aviation Investment Plan doesn’t anticipate buying any new strategic airlifters for at least a dozen years, it’s likely that the C-17 fleet may be enhanced or life-extended during that period, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz...

Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, sees the continuation of the C-130J for a wide variety of missions as diverse as weather reconnaissance and gunship, rather than spending money to develop a new capability when research and development dollars are...

Under the Obama Administration’s proposed restructure of the tri-agency NPOESS weather satellite program, the Air Force would go its own way and concentrate on building a new satellite to meet the needs of the military community for weather observation and...

The General Electric-Rolls Royce team says Defense Secretary Robert Gates' arguments last week on Capitol Hill against continuing F136 engine work for the F-35 strike fighter are way off base. In a point-by-point rebuttal, the partners claim, for example, that the F136 program would not require an additional $2.5 billion over the next five years as Gates told Senate lawmakers on Feb. 2. (He cited $2.9 billion the next day to House members.) Instead, the companies say, "far less" would be required: about $1.3 billion to complete the engine's development and cover the additional costs associated with tooling and support infrastructure. And contrary to Gates' claim that none of the planned F-35 users really wants to have two engine suppliers, they said that all of the international partners signed the F-35 memorandum of understanding that "recognizes competing engines as a key [F-35] feature." (Gates on F136) (GE-Rolls Royce statement)

As part of the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2011 budget request to Congress, the Navy seeks to procure an additional 26 EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, two in Fiscal 2011 and 24 in 2012, to mitigate a looming capability gap. These 26...

The C-5M Super Galaxy can now claim 41 world records in addition to the US records acknowledged last fall by the National Aeronautic Association. The Federation Aeronautique International confirmed the world records Jan. 19, according to a Feb. 2 release...

According to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the Air Force and NASA have agreed to a 50-year-lease that will allow the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing to continue using Moffett Federal Airfield as its base of operations for the...

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has been so dubbed by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs who bemoaned to reporters Friday the hold Shelby now has on 70 Presidential nominees ostensibly over the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition. According to a report...

Last week, all of the Air Force medical treatment facilities in San Antonio merged under the 59th Medical Wing (Wilford Hall Medical Center) at Lackland AFB, Tex., as part of the San Antonio-wide BRAC 2005 moves that will form Joint...

The accident investigation board convened by Air Mobility Command to review a Nov. 2, 2009, incident with a C-21 at Ali Base, Iraq, has found the flight crew responsible for letting the aircraft depart the end of the runway and...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, Feb. 3, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 27 16 43 1,896 CAS/Armed Recon 20 81 101 3,059 Airlift 164 164 5,402 Air refueling 44 44 1,430 Total 352 11,787 OIF=Operation Iraqi...