The Pentagon is about to launch another comprehensive mobility study to provide some heavier analytical backing to the decisions to shrink the Air Force’s strategic and tactical airlift fleets, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. He told reporters in...

Establishing quality schools, including charter schools where state laws permit, for Air Force installations is integral to creating “thriving communities” at those locations, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. “The key thing to creating a thriving community is the...

The Air Force’s Fiscal 2013 budget request for science and technology is about $2.2 billion, including about $200 million to support devolved programs such as high-energy laser efforts, said Steven Walker, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for science, technology,...

The Air Force is consolidating all rotary-wing developmental testing and evaluation at Duke Field, a part of Eglin AFB, Fla., in an effort to tackle four upcoming helicopter programs. Shifting UH-1Ns from Eglin’s main ramp to Duke, some eight miles...

The 49th Wing set a record for Holloman AFB, N.M., simultaneously launching 15 of its F-22s during a base-wide operational-readiness exercise. “I’m really proud of the efforts everyone made in this exercise,” summed 49th Wing Commander Col. David Krumm. “People...

The Air Force’s active duty component and Air Force Reserve met their fiscal-year-to-date recruiting goals through January, while the Air National Guard continued to overcome a slow start as it neared its goal, according to the Defense Department’s newest recruiting...

The shift of US forces in the Pacific, such as the movement of marines from Okinawa to Guam, reflects "the strong desire to balance the forces more effectively into Southeast Asia and South Asia," said Adm. Robert Willard, head of US Pacific Command. "Right now, all permanently garrisoned forces outside of Guam and those in Singapore are, by and large, in Northeast Asia," Willard told the House Armed Services Committee last week. He noted that it is "inconsequential," whether US forces in the region are permanently based there or rotational. "What is most important" is that the forces "are maintained at a readiness level where they can be the first responders" in the region, he said. He added, "So they have to dwell there long enough to be trained and exercised and equipped, [and] resourced and engaging on a fairly continuous basis." Since there is little appetite with partners in South and Southeast Asia for permanent bases, Willard said he thinks a presence of rotational forces, such as the recently announced marine rotation to Australia, "will be very effective." (Willard prepared statement)

Although the US military presence in Europe is coming down, US European Command remains focused on building and maintaining European partnerships, said EUCOM Commander Adm. James Stavridis. "Although we see great strategic challenge[s] in the Pacific and in the Middle East, I think we will continue to need these strategic partnerships that we have developed over decades in Europe," he testified before the House Armed Services Committee last week. NATO will continue "to be of great importance to us," said Stavridis. And, Europe is the is the "nexus point" between the United States and its operations in Africa and Southwest and Central Asia, he said. Stavridis noted that the United States has reduced its presence in Europe by roughly 75 percent since the height of the Cold War, dropping from almost 400,000 military and civilian personnel back then to fewer than 100,000 today. (Stavridis' written testimony)

Two pararescuemen jumped in blizzard conditions from an HC-130 at night to reach a critically ill patient stranded at a remote Alaskan village. When high winds and blinding snow forced an HH-60 Pave Hawk to abort after trouble refueling from...