Obama: We are at War with ISIL

By Amy McCullough
President Obama strongly urged Congress to pass a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) for combat operations against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. “If Congress believes, as I do, that we are at war with ISIL,...

Information Drives the Kill Chain

By Marc V. Schanz
The Air Force has assured combat dominance of the skies by putting combat power where it is needed in largely uncontested environments, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Hawk Carlisle said Dec. 4 at AFA’s Mitchell Institute-RAND Corporation forum on aerospace...

The Future Fight, From Garrison

By Marc V. Schanz
The Air Force’s ISR and cyber airmen are increasingly critical to what Air Combat Command boss Gen. Hawk Carlisle called “in garrison combat operations.” Speaking during an AFA Mitchell Institute-Rand Corporation forum, Carlisle said such operations are going to be...

You Can’t Look Back

By Marc V. Schanz
Though many wish space and cyberspace were benign environments, today they are both “threatened” and the Air Force must better adapt its space and cyber forces to anticipate potential conflict, Air Force Space Command’s top airman said Dec. 4. From...

High-End Fight Comes to Langley

By Arie Church
F-22s launched a high-end anti-access, area-denial integration exercise with British and French fighters at JB Langley-Eustis, Va., on Dec. 2. A total of eight Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR-?4s, and six French air force Rafale fighters will join the 1st...

JASSM Lot 14 Contract Awarded

By Arie Church
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $302 million production contract for the production of AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), including foreign military sales to Finland and Poland, according to a Dec. 3 contract announcement. “JASSM gives our allies...

Former Defense Secretary Says Eliminate ICBMs

By Otto Kreisher
Former Defense Secretary William Perry urged the elimination of the ground-based ICBM leg of the nuclear deterrent triad and opposed production of the nuclear-armed Long Range Standoff missile, which will replace the air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), calling both “uniquely destabilizing.”...

US Supports Afghan Raid on Taliban Prison

By Brian W. Everstine
The US provided surveillance and intelligence support for an Afghan forces raid on a Taliban prison in Helmand Province that freed 60 prisoners, US Central Command said Friday. The Dec. 3 raid was conducted by Afghan forces, though US aircraft...

German Tornadoes Join the Anti-ISIS Coalition

By Arie Church
German legislators on Friday approved a measure to join coalition efforts against ISIS in Syria in a purely non-combat role, reported BBC News. A total of six German air force Tornado ECR reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft will deploy from...

ISIS Using Child Soldiers on Frontlines

By Brian W. Everstine
ISIS has been conscripting child soldiers as young as 10-years-old to replenish frontline fighters as local ground forces and coalition airstrikes have pushed back the group’s advances in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command said. The group is “scraping …...

Helping with a Vengeance

By Arie Church
Personnel at Scott AFB, Ill., recently assisted with the reassembly and check-out of an airworthy WWII-vintage TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, to fly in a commemoration of the attacks on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. “The Airfield Management team was here...