Saturday, April 20, 2024
Air Force Secretary James Roche and Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper are considering a measure to restructure the service's system for managing its most costly and high profile procurement programs, such as the F/A-22 stealthy fighter and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today threatened to "join other senior advisers to the President" in recommending a veto of the defense authorization bill now before Congress if the House and Senate Armed Services Committees do not reverse their positions on some key issues, including proposed changes to the base realignment and closure law and military and civilian benefits and pay.
A spending report sent last week to Congress shows the Pentagon anticipates spending just over $401 billion to handle its primary missions as well as warfighting commitments around the globe for fiscal year 2003.
The Pentagon's acting acquisition chief yesterday named the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to lead a new joint office that will manage the development of future unmanned combat air vehicle systems for the Air Force and Navy.
The Air Force is preparing to announce this week a basing plan for the 100 new refueling tankers it plans to lease from Boeing for $16 billion beginning in fiscal year 2006, according to government officials and documents.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Dan Leaf will leave his post at the Pentagon to take what appears to be an unlikely job for a combat pilot as the vice commander of Air Force Space Command.
A report compiled by Combined Forces Air Component Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Moseley and his staff provides the most detailed look to date at air war statistics extrapolated from the 720 hours that made up the hostilities of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Bush administration wants Air Force Secretary James Roche to be the next Army secretary, InsideDefense.com has learned.
Air Force officials are touting the additional purchase of one Lockheed Martin F/A-22 stealth fighter in the Lot 3 buy -- bringing the total buy to 21 -- as a byproduct of the service's "buy-to-budget" strategy, which was recently applied to the troubled program.
Three U.S. F-15 fighters today intercepted a pair of Russian "Bear" intelligence gathering aircraft that infiltrated the air defense zone near Iceland, according to military officials.
Two retired Air Force officers, one of whom works at Hill Air Force Base, UT, contracted Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome during a trip to Asia, according to Air Force officials.
U.S. Central Command recently dispatched two of the oldest Air Force Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, stripped of their expensive sensors and armaments, to provoke a response from the Iraqi military and expose remaining pockets of the country's air defense systems.
The Air Force has exempted certain procurement and research and development programs -- including the financially troubled F/A-22, a severely over-budget early missile warning satellite system and the government's next-generation rocket program -- from sharing the burden of annual inflation costs.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense last week issued a new budget schedule that shows the Pentagon leadership intends to wrap up its fiscal year 2004 defense budget request and outyear plans by the end of December.
The Air Force announced late today the F/A-22 development program is heading toward a $690 million cost overrun, adding to the rising cost of the aircraft that is now priced at $189 million per copy.
Air Force officials are planning this year to demonstrate the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle's ability to launch a Stinger missile against aerial targets, a move that could provide a unique capability to the U.S. arsenal as the Bush administration's rhetoric over a war with Iraq continues to intensify, according to sources.
Air Force Under Secretary Peter Teets said he hopes to inject up to an additional $200 million per year into the fiscal year 2004 program objective memorandum for what some say are neglected elements of the nation's next-generation of rockets coming on line this year.
President Bush's national security adviser plans to recommend that the White House initiate a review of U.S. space policies that have been in place since 1996, according to Pentagon sources and documents.
Following the decision to certify to Congress the Space Based Infrared System High's importance to national security, Pentagon acquisition czar Pete Aldridge has directed the Air Force to "fully fund" the early warning system in the fiscal year 2004 to 2009 program objective memorandum, according to a May 2 memo.
A number of organizational changes at Air Force headquarters and field operating agencies, which were directed by Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper as part of his efforts to transform the service, are slated to be implemented on April 29.