Air Frame: Year in Review, September 2011: The nation commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Here, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with former President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, pause at the North Memorial Pool of the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York City. Also in September, NATO extended operations in Libya for another three months. And, Obama presented Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota Meyer with the Medal of Honor, making Meyer the third living MOH recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also in the month, the Air Force announced it had completed all closures and realignments mandated under BRAC 2005. Air Combat Command accepted its first HC-130J Combat King II personnel recovery aircraft and USAF’s first Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload went into space. White House photo by Chuck Kennedy
The Air Force has launched a replacement for the E-3 Sentry AWACS, asking Boeing for data on the E-7 Wedgetail. The Wedgetail is flying with Australia's air force and has been selected by three other countries. A government announcement said Boeing is being asked to provide information as the sole…