Space Strategy Encourages New Thinking

The National Security Space Strategy, released Friday, highlights a need to think differently about space operations. In fact, it encourages officials to find a way to better leverage growing foreign commercial capabilities in space and rethink how the United States...

Air Force to Stand Up 10 New RPA Squadrons

By Amy Hudson
The Air Force plans to establish three new active duty MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft squadrons this year, along with six new Air National Guard units, and one Air Force Reserve squadron, said Col. James Gear, head...

Built to Weather the Budget Storm

Although the Pentagon’s budget is expected to flatline in mid-decade, remotely piloted aircraft initiatives aren’t likely to take a large hit. “Unmanned systems are competing very well” within this tight fiscal environment, said Dyke Weatherington, deputy director for unmanned warfare...

Call for Final KC-X Bids

Boeing and EADS North America have until Feb. 11 to submit their best and final offers for supplying KC-X tankers to the Air Force, according to press reports. Each company is vying for the rights to build up to 179...

Mark Your Calendars

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen are scheduled to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the morning of Feb. 17 to present the details of the Pentagon’s $553 billion...

Airlift Unit Breaks Own Airdrop Mark

Members of the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, established a new record for the unit by completing 51 airdrop missions during January. This mark shattered the C-130J unit’s previous monthly high of 40 airdrops. “It feels good...

Upgrade Planned for Air and Space Operations Centers

Air Force officials at Hanscom AFB, Mass., are working to modernize the service’s global set of air and space operations centers. “We’re looking to have a single computing environment for the AOC weapon system,” said Lt. Col. John Barrette, AOC...

Airman Honored for Role in Saving Keating

Capt. Michael Polidor, an F-15E pilot, is the 2011 recipient of the Col. James Jabara Award for Airmanship. Polidor’s actions in his F-15E on Oct. 3, 2009, saved the lives of numerous US soldiers when a large force of insurgents...

Desert Falcons Travel Afar for Red Flag

The United Arab Emirates dispatched a squadron of its F-16 Block 60 fighters from its home station to join in USAF’s Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nev. This is the first time that UAE F-16s have traversed the Atlantic...