Fraser: Reduce Strategic Airlift

Gen. William Fraser, Air Combat Command boss, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that he supports the Air Force’s desire to reduce the size of the strategic airlift fleet from 316 aircraft to about 300. Speaking during...

Keeping an Eye on Pakistan

If confirmed as head of US Transportation Command, Gen. William Fraser said one of his top priorities would be to have alternative means available for supplying US troops in Afghanistan in case the current, primary logistics routes through Pakistan are...

Scientific Board Tasked to Review Cockpit Oxygen Systems

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley has directed the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board to conduct a quick-look study of the onboard oxygen-generation systems used on the F-22 and the service’s other aircraft, USAF officials announced Thursday. This move comes after...

Less Officers Eligible for RIF Board

Biomedical service corps officers and judge advocate general competitive categories no longer will have to go before the reduction-in-force board in September due to sufficient voluntary separations, announced service officials Thursday. The board, slated to convene in mid-September, will consider...

Emotional Ending

The Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down for a final time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Thursday, closing out three decades of US shuttle flights. It was an emotional day for the thousands of people who...

Bio-Coaching the Commercial Industry

By Arie Church
Despite pioneering alternative fuel certification across USAF’s air fleets, given current low demand in the commercial aviation market, the price of this fuel remains unfeasibly high. “What it would take to get the price of [alternative] fuel down to parity...

US Space, Missile Defense Programs Lack Quality Control

Poor workmanship, undocumented and untested manufacturing processes, and parts complexity have led to significant cost overruns and schedule delays in US space and missile defense programs, reported the Government Accountability Office Thursday. All 21 Defense Department and NASA programs that...

C-17 Sets Airdrop Record in Test

C-17 crew with the 418th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, Calif., chalked up the highest altitude airdrop of a maximum-gross-weight pallet from a C-17 over the Edwards test range. Released at 35,000 feet—10,000 feet higher than the currently approved...

And Then There Were Two

AF-8 became the second Air Force F-35A strike fighter to arrive at Eglin AFB, Fla., to support the 33rd Fighter Wing’s F-35 training mission, announced prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The aircraft flew into Eglin from the company’s F-35 assembly facility...

Avionics Upgrade Nears Finish Line

Work is under way at Travis AFB, Calif., to modernize the avionics on the last three of the Air Force’s C-5 Galaxy airlifters. Air Force and Lockheed Martin officials expect to complete these activities next May. Once upgraded, these three...