President Obama signed H.R. 5872, the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, into law on Aug. 7. The legislation requires the White House’s budget office to submit a report to Congress within the next 30 days that details the effects of...

Lt. Gen. Darren McDew assumed command of 18th Air Force during a ceremony at Scott AFB, Ill. McDew, who previously oversaw the Air Force District of Washington at JB Andrews, Md., pinned on his third star immediately before becoming 18th...

President Obama nominated Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan for a third star for his new assignment as director of the F-35 program office in Arlington, Va. If the Senate approves of this nomination, Bogdan would succeed Vice Adm. David Venlet, who...

Maj. Jay Spohn, a Florida Air National Guard pilot assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, became the Air Guard’s first F-35 instructor pilot, announced Eglin officials on Aug. 7. Spohn concluded the last of his...

Air Force researchers played an important role in testing and evaluating technology that went into NASA’s rover Curiosity that successfully touched down on Mars this week, according to service officials. Much of the rover’s difficult-yet-flawless landing was “directly related” to...

B-52s of the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, La., flew 100 percent of their assigned sorties in July, notching up the wing’s highest mission-capable rate in at least 16 years, thanks to stellar work by their maintainers. The wing’s...

Air traffic controllers' erroneous directions caused the near collision of an Air Force C-17 and an American Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 250 passengers in the skies near New York City last January, reports Reuters. Controllers at the New York air traffic control center mistakenly vectored the two aircraft to converge at the same point roughly 90 miles southeast of New York's JFK airport on the night of Jan. 20, 2011, according to the news service's Aug. 7 report. It cites the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board's incident investigation. The airliner's collision-avoidance system detected the C-17 descending from a refueling rendezvous. Still, the two aircraft came within less than 2,000 feet of each other while flying at the same altitude, according to NTSB's incident narrative from Aug, 2. "That guy passed us now and that was not good," radioed a member of the 777 crew to an air traffic controller. "I understand that and I apologize," responded the controller. The Air Force crew—flying formation with a second C-17—continued to JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. (NTSB factual report)

Engineers began a construction project to improve access to the main runway at RAF Mildenhall, England. Under the $15 million project, contractors will extend taxiway alpha to the far end of Runway 29, allowing heavier aircraft to roll directly onto...

Officials at Arnold AFB, Tenn., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of new, energy-efficient homes on base. The ceremony took place on July 31, and families started moving in just hours later, according to Arnold’s Aug. 6 release....

Suzie Schwartz, wife of Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and Paula Roy, wife of CMSAF James Roy, have created a "spouse battle book" called Air Force 101: A Back-to-Basics Guide for Air Force Spouses, announced service officials Aug 7. The two ladies want the document to serve as "a one-stop resource on the basics of life in the Air Force," according to the guide's introduction. The guide is designed to familiarize military spouses with the Air Force's mission, organizational and rank structure, and traditions. It also covers a broad range of issues like spouse employment and dealing with deployment. "We hope this guide better equips you to take an active role in helping our dynamic community be more successful and informed," wrote the two ladies in the introduction. (Air Force 101 full document; caution, large-sized file.)