F-16s at Misawa AB, Japan, took to the air again on July 26 after 35th Fighter Wing leadership lifted a temporary safety standdown to inspect the base’s F-16s after one of them crashed in the Pacific Ocean on July 22....

Though it’s still being tweaked and tested, the Air Force’s Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb is available for use if needed, said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley. “If it was needed to go today, we would be able to do that,”...

The services’ cyber security commanders told the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats panel this week that cyber warfare called for an irregular skill set, and perhaps atypical individuals. That led Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tex) to ask them whether the...

The Senate on July 26 confirmed Army Lt. Gen. Frank Grass to be the next National Guard Bureau chief and Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Lengyel to be vice chief, announced Guard officials. For these positions, Grass will receive a...

The Air Force’s third Global Positioning System IIF satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., earlier this month in preparation for its scheduled launch later this year, announced manufacturer Boeing. Dubbed SVN-65, this satellite is slated to go into orbit...

Four specially configured C-130s are still actively fighting fires, primarily snuffing out new flare-ups across Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon from a staging point at Boise Air Terminal, Idaho. “Our aircrews have been flying on a number of fires . ....

The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 is on its way to President Obama after the Senate passed the bill, which requires the White House to detail the impact of the discretionary spending cuts across defense and non-defense accounts in Fiscal 2013 under the Budget Control Act's sequester. Senators unanimously approved the bill on July 25, reported Roll Call. Senate action followed the House passing the bill on July 18 by a vote of 414 to two, reported The Hill. The legislation, H.R.5872, requires the Office of Management and Budget to provide "a detailed report," within 30 days of the law's enactment, on the effects of sequestration next fiscal year. "Everyone should understand that sequestration is a terrible way to cut spending, so I am hopeful that the more information my colleagues receive about its impact, the more they will be willing to move off of their partisan positions and work with us toward a balanced and bipartisan replacement," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a July 25 statement. (H.R. 5872 full text)

The Air Force awarded $156 million in contracts to extend deployment of its Battlefield Airborne Communication Node fleet through next June, announced prime contractor Northrop Grumman. “BACN is making a tremendous difference for our warfighters,” said Claude Hashem, Northrop Grumman’s...

Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Air Force Special Operations Command need to do a better job integrating virtual training efforts, found Government Accountability Office auditors. Specifically, the Air Force should create an overarching organizational framework that accomplishes this...

DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, two leading commercial providers of high-resolution satellite imagery to the Defense Department and US intelligence community, announced their intent to merge. “Together, we will create a more efficient, more diversified and more capable company, better positioned to...