Officials at JB Elmendorf, Alaska, have identified the four airmen who died in the base’s C-17 crash. They are Maj. Michael Freyholtz, 34, pilot with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 249th Airlift Squadron; Maj. Aaron Malone, 36, 249th AS pilot;...

Air Force Global Strike Command has “no plans” to eliminate one of its nine missile squadrons as it reduces the number of deployed Minuteman III ICBMs by at least 30 to meet the ceilings of the new US nuclear force...

Aircraft maintainers with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., have been restoring six retired early-model F-16s from desert storage for use as full-scale targets. They are regenerating both F-16As and F-16Cs in support of Boeing’s...

Typically, reserve forces would be the first on the chopping block as the Defense Department looks to make large-scale resource adjustments. However, that approach would lead to a less capable fighting force and ultimately higher long-term costs, warns Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, in the new white paper, Total Force Policy 21: A 21st Century Framework for Military Force Mix Decisions. Stenner argues that reducing the reserve force to "preserve" the active duty component would essentially eliminate a cadre of experienced personnel in exchange for a new batch of less experienced ones. That, he says, would result in the "immediate reduction in combat capability." Indeed, reserve forces are "ready, available, and accessible to fulfill operational requirements," all for a "significantly lower cost than full-time active duty forces," says Stenner, who prepared this paper in support of DOD's review of the reserve component's future role.

President Obama has signed into law H.R. 4899, the 2010 emergency supplemental war spending package. Containing $59 billion in overall earmarks, the legislation provides $33.5 billion to sustain the Defense Department’s activities in Afghanistan and Iraq, including fully funding the...

The importance of fielding a new helicopter to replace Vietnam War-era UH-1 Hueys “is well understood at all levels within the joint world as well as the Air Force,” Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command,...

“The Air Force has about the right structure except for the need to add long-range strike—more long-range strike,” former Defense Secretary William Perry testified last week on Capitol Hill. Perry was highlighting one of the Congressionally chartered Quadrennial Defense Review...

The Defense Department is reassessing the way it handles secret field reports in the wake of the release of thousands of internal US military documents by Wikileaks in July, says Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Briefing reporters in the Pentagon, Gates...

The first HC-130J combat rescue tanker destined for the Air Force has made its maiden flight, according to aircraft maker Lockheed Martin. The aircraft took to the skies July 29 from the company’s assembly plant in Marietta, Ga. It is...

A team of Air Force researchers and industry engineers have completed a major system-level test of the interfaces between the first space based infrared systems satellite and the satellite’s ground segment. The Air Force anticipates launching this SBIRS satellite, designated...

Air Sorties in Southwest Asia, July 23, 2010 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 26 72 98 13,972 CAS/Armed Recon 22 68 90 19,360 Airlift 192 192 35,257 Air refueling 53 53 9,308 Rescue 31 31 4,239 Total...