Airmen Die in U-28 Mishap

Four airmen assigned to Hurlburt Field, Fla., died in an accident involving their U-28 intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft near Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa, announced the Defense Department on Monday. They are: Capt. Ryan P. Hall, 30, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Capt....

Charting Space

By Amy McCullough
The Air Force’s $8 billion request for space in Fiscal 2013 comes in 22 percent lower than the space budget in this fiscal year. That’s primarily due to four factors, said Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton. First, some...

Roy Provides Snapshot of Force

Some 30,000 airmen are currently forward-deployed at 151 locations worldwide, mostly in Southwest Asia, supporting joint and coalition operations, said CMSAF James Roy. “While our combat forces are no longer in Iraq, there are still more than 23,000 airmen deployed...

Generals on the Move

The Senate has approved Maj. Gen. Craig Franklin and Maj. Gen. John Hyten to receive their third stars for their new assignments as 3rd Air Force commander at Ramstein AB, Germany, and Air Force Space Command vice commander at Peterson...

Panetta: Proper Recognition for Heroes

The Air Force is examining the cases of past recipients of medals for valor to ensure that these airmen have received proper recognition or qualify for a higher decoration, said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. “We’ve done this with other services....

Senate Approves Locklear to Lead Pacific Command

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Adm. Samuel Locklear to lead US Pacific Command. He succeeds Adm. Robert Willard, who held the position since October 2009. Locklear comes to PACOM from US Naval Forces Europe, a command he led since...

Budget-Strategy Disconnect

By John A. Tirpak
The Pentagon’s Fiscal 2013 budget request is supposed to reflect the new national defense strategy—emphasizing air and sea forces versus land forces—but doesn’t, according to Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Budgetary and Strategic Assessments. “If you look...

Why People Cost

Congress’ zeal to reward the troops with hefty pay and benefits increases over the past 10 years has to be curbed, or personnel costs will wipe out the whole defense budget. So said Todd Harrison, senior defense fellow with the...

Remembering Friendship 7

Fifty years ago on Monday, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth when an Atlas rocket carrying his Mercury capsule Friendship 7 blasted off from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., lifting him into space. Over the course...

Desert Diplomacy

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziére touched down at Holloman AFB, N.M., visiting with US and German airmen on his diplomatic trip to the United States. “He wanted to see some of the different aspects of the German forces here...