Air Force leaders have promised transparency about what they will spend in pursuit of a new bomber aircraft, but they’ve also said the activities surrounding the aircraft’s development will remain largely classified. Although the new bomber will make use of...

NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft have begun around-the-clock surveillance of Libyan airspace as alliance officials consider the possibility of establishing a flight-exclusion zone over the North African state. While NATO allies Britain and France are drafting a UN proposal to permit...

Members of Class 1101 at the Air Force Special Operations Training Center at Hurlburt Field, Fla., were the first students to participate in mission qualification training for the MC-130J. “This first class is a small group tryout designed to validate...

SrA. James A. Hansen was too close to a controlled detonation of unserviceable ordnance last September at JB Balad, Iraq, and that mistake cost him his life, Air Force investigators have determined. Hansen was one of 19 observers watching the blast. Debris struck and killed him. Air Force Materiel Command's ground accident investigation board has determined that the observer group was "not far enough away from the explosion to be completely outside the blast range," states a release. Hansen was an airfield management operations coordinator from Eglin AFB, Fla., who was deployed to Balad. "The loss of SrA. Hansen is tragic," said Col. John Franz, board president. Franz added, "He was a dedicated warrior, a patriotic citizen, and a valued member of the AFMC team." As a result of the mishap, Balad officials halted all non-emergency detonations and are rewriting EOD operating instructions. (GAIB report full text; caution, large-sized file)

Airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen have concluded the 2010-11 season of Operation Deep Freeze, the US military’s operational and logistical support of US scientific research in Antarctica. C-17 aircrews from the 62nd Airlift Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s...

Airmen of the 374th Security Forces Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan, are helping Japan Air Self Defense Force personnel establish a base defense development and training squadron, or BDDTS. Limited to law-enforcement duties until recently, the JASDF seeks to transform...

The Air Force has awarded Raytheon a $42 million contract for additional AN/AAQ-29A forward-looking infrared imaging systems for its fleet of HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters. This order of FLIRs, which are smaller and lighter than the AN/AAQ-16 systems they will...

Nineteen specially trained archeologists from the Defense Department are in China to search for a group of US airmen presumed lost in action during the Korean War. This recovery team is working in cooperation with Chinese officials in the Guangdong...

Air Force military working dogs at several bases are testing a new fitness regime to improve their readiness for deployment. “The program ensures we send the most physically fit dogs to a combat zone,” said SSgt. Rick Laird of the...