Air Force

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House Air Force Caucus announces leaders

By Brian Everstine on March 19, 2015 Air Force, Leadership

The 70-member House of Representative Air Force Caucus this week announced its leadership for the 114th Congress, and it includes a group of representatives who are no strangers to the service. The co-chairs for this session are Reps. Michael Turner, R-Ohio; Sam Johnson, R-Texas, Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam; and Niki Tsongas, D-Massachusetts. The caucus “seeks to educate other members of Congress on the Air Force’s role in national defense and raise pertinent issues related to Air Force manpower, capabilities and missions,” the group said in a statement. Throughout the year, the group has meeting with Air Force leaders and works…

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U.S.: No ‘friendly fire’ airstrike in Ramadi

By militaryonline on March 13, 2015 Air Force, Iraq

The U.S. government is disputing media reports that a coalition aircraft accidentally bombed an Iraqi unit’s headquarters near Ramadi on Wednesday. Reuters cited an unnamed Iraqi military source on Thursday, who said that a coalition aircraft accidentally attacked an Iraqi unit’s headquarters near Ramadi, killing 22 Iraqi troops. Reuters later updated its story with a quote from a U.S. military spokesman that no coalition aircraft were involved with the attack. Still, Iraqi media and Anti war.com continued to report that a U.S. airstrike killed the Iraqi troops, prompting the U.S. Embassy to issue a statement pushing back on “recent false…

New tool checks F-35 paint for damages in minutes

By militaryonline on March 10, 2015 Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory, Airframes, Technology

A new handheld tool being developed will allow F-35 maintainers to check the aircraft’s paint for any damage in a fraction of the time it now takes. The handheld imaging tool consists of a 7-pound scanner and an 11-pound backpack; whereas the current piece of equipment weighs 1,200 pounds, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Recent advances in materials and electronics have allowed the Air Force to miniaturize imaging systems, said Juan G. Calzada, of the laboratory .Because the tool is so portable, it eliminates much of the time needed to set up…

‘Daily Strike’ not the new name for updates on airstrikes

By militaryonline on March 4, 2015 Air Combat Command, Air Force, Iraq

On Wednesday, it appeared that the daily tally of airstrikes in Iraq in Syria that is provided to reporters had been rechristened as the “Daily Strike.” That sounded like a pretty good name for a morning defense-related tip sheet, as in, “Start your day with the Daily Strike – We put warheads on foreheads.” But, after FlightLines contacted the combined joint task force in charge of the war against the Islamic State, it quickly became clear there is no “Daily Strike” morning roundup. Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve regularly sends emails to reporters listing which targets in…

Tell Us: Can you tell your chain of command you are overworked?

By militaryonline on March 2, 2015 Air Force, budget cuts, PME, PT

Tell Us: Are you comfortable telling your supervisor and others in your chain of command that you are working too many hours when you include your job, mandatory training, professional military education, PT and your commute to and from work? Have you tried telling your chain of command that you are overworked or you don’t have the staff to supervise all of your airmen? Please email senior writer Jeff Schogol at jschogol@airforcetimes.com or call him at 703-750-7436. Your comments may be used in a story.

CSAF unveils 2015 reading list

By Kristin Davis on February 16, 2015 Afghanistan, Air Force, History, Leadership, Uncategorized

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has unveiled his annual reading list — 12 titles mostly recommended by you. More than 1,700 airmen wrote in over 10 days recommending favorite books and movies, enough, Welsh wrote in his opening message, to “fill a library … with amazing fictional, historical, and biographical works, along with fascinating ideas about personal and organizational values, growth, and success.” Topping this year’s book list is the 2012 “Air Commanders” by John Andreas Olsen. Part-military biography and part-operational analysis, the book tells the stories of 12 airmen who “shaped the central air campaigns in American history,”…

Column: Selective censorship undermines military

By Kristin Davis on February 10, 2015 Air Force, Defense Department, sexual assaults

In a column published in USA Today, a former judge advocate argues the Air Force has a double standard when it comes to expressing viewpoints contrary to the service’s own. Support the Air Force’s official stance, former Capt. Maribel Jarzabek writes, and get rewarded. Oppose it, she says, and get punished. Jarzabek gives as examples a two-star general’s recent alleged characterization as “treasonous” any officers who would work with lawmakers against the Air Force’s contentious plan to retire the A-10 — as well as her own case. Jarzabek told Air Force Times in December she was investigated and ultimately verbally counseled…

Civil Air Patrol major selected for Mrs. United States pageant

By Jeff Schogol on January 22, 2015 Air Force, Uncategorized

Civil Air Patrol Maj. Jaimie L Henson entered the Mrs. United States National Pageant on a whim, hoping it would give her a platform to tell people about the Civil Air Patrol and the benefits of volunteerism. So Henson was “quite surprised” to learn that she will represent her state as Mrs. Kentucky in this July’s pageant. “It is a beauty pageant, but the Mrs. [United States National] Pageant focuses on accomplishments, and not so much the physical beauty,” Henson told Flightlines on Thursday. “I think that’s one of the things that kind of intrigued me about it. The age…

Eielson airmen construct ice bridge

By Brian Everstine on January 9, 2015 Air Force, Video

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt19ubNz7ks] Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, shared this video showing airmen at the base using the frigid temperatures to their advantage by building an ice bridge to a nearby training range. The ice bridge has to be constructed every other year so airmen can access range facilities, which are used in Red Flag- Alaska exercises, according to the Air Force. “We don’t always know what we have for ice, so it’s a little sketchy going across at first,” said Shawn Kelly, the 354th CES range maintenance foreman, said in an Air Force news story on the project. “Our first…

Drone pilots take center stage in ‘Good Kill’

By Oriana Pawlyk on January 7, 2015 Air Force, UAV

The Air Force has had cameos in the films like ‘Godzilla,’ ‘Iron Man,’ and an episode or two of ‘Homeland.’ But in ‘Good Kill,’ audiences can zero-in on the drone pilot realm where war becomes an arbitrary arena. Not before long, U.S. Air Force pilot-turned-drone operator Tom Egan (Ethan Hawke) questions if his ground-based cockpit missions (as one drone pilot calls it “warheads on foreheads”) are too much to handle. Hawke’s character — logging 3,000 hours in F-16s, six tours and 200 combat sorties — at some point decides that returning to the front lines would be better than his…

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