Air Force Lieutenant General Susan Helms has been appointed for a new job almost one year after applying for retirement. Helms retired after her nomination for vice commander of Space Command was blocked by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. President Obama announced on Sept. 25 that he intends to appoint Helms to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars board of trustees. The center is government think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The position would be a new start for Helms’ career. The prominent Democratic lawmaker blocked Helms’ nomination in April 2013 because Helms overturned the sexual assault conviction of Capt.…
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Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. On June 24, 1997, the Air Force released “The Roswell Report, Case Closed,” stating there was no evidence that any kind of life form was found in the Roswell, New Mexico, area in connection with the reported UFO sightings that occurred decades prior. When Americans began to focus on the skies in the 1940s, Roswell became a hot topic in the UFO department. It started when rancher “Mac” Brazel found debris scattered over some of his land in July 1947. According to History.com, he “turned the material…
The Senate’s recent decision to break with tradition and end the 60-vote requirement for most Presidential nomination has not changed Lt. Gen. Susan Helms’ decision to retire. Helms was nominated to be the next vice commander of Space Command, but Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., blocked her nomination because Helms overturned the sexual assault conviction of Capt. Matthew Herrera at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in February 2012. Under the old Senate rules, it took 60 votes to overcome a hold on a nomination, but on Thursday the Senate voted to lower that threshold to 51 votes. But Helms has not…
This time-lapse video takes you on a two minute journey through the changing Hawaiian landscape, but also into galaxies beyond our reach. It’s centered around the Maui Space Surveillance Complex, where the Air Force operates the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep-Space Surveillance Network, or GEODSS, says Tanya Basu at National Geographic. GEODSS maintains one highly important job: to make sure satellites don’t collide. The video was produced by Andrew Breese and photographed by Tech Sgt. Bennie Davis for Airman Magazine, the official magazine of the Air Force. Read more about what it takes to monitor these satellites, the inspiration behind this beautiful video…
Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. On Nov. 9, 1961, during the first full-throttle flight of the X-15, Air Force Maj. Robert M. White became the first pilot to exceed Mach 6, attaining a top speed of 4,094 mph during a flight just under 8 minutes between Mud Lake, Nev., and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Likewise, the rocket-powered X-15 aircraft was the first airplane to exceed Mach 6. According to his L.A. Times obituary, White was also the first pilot to exceed Mach 4 and Mach 5 before his Nov. 9…
This week’s Air Force Times takes a look at how the combination of aging aircraft and steep budget cuts are taking their toll on airmen. Unless budget cuts are reversed, airmen can expect to work longer hours and deal with maintenance backlogs and depot cycle changes. In other news, enlisted airmen will get slightly more for their clothing allowances this fiscal year. We break down exactly how much you will receive for each clothing item. Also this week, you can read how the class ring of a pilot shot down over Vietnam was returned to his family decades later. The…
This week’s Air Force Times takes a look at how the combination of aging aircraft and steep budget cuts are taking their toll on airmen. Unless budget cuts are reversed, airmen can expect to work longer hours and deal with maintenance backlogs and depot cycle changes. In other news, enlisted airmen will get slightly more for their clothing allowances this fiscal year. We break down exactly how much you will receive for each clothing item. Also this week, you can read how the class ring of a pilot shot down over Vietnam was returned to his family decades later. The…
An Air Force colonel is now aboard the International Space Station. Mike Hopkins, 44, and two Russians traveled in a Soyuz capsule Sept. 25 after blasting off from a launch pad in Kazakhstan to dock with the space station, where they’ll spend the next six months. Hopkins was a special assistant to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a year until he began astronaut training in 2009, according to his official biography. He was one of 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class and graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training in November 2011. This is his…
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. — Air Force cyber mission teams supporting U.S. Cyber Command will be comprised of about 1,260 airmen, the head of Air Force Space Command said Tuesday. Gen. William Shelton said that while an earlier projection may have called for 1,500 airmen, that was still being talked about in the leadership circles. “After several briefings involving the services, the Joint Staff and U.S. Cyber Command, 1,264 was the number agreed to as the Air Force share of the overall requirement for the cyber mission force,” Shelton said at the Air Force Association Air & Space Conference. “That is…
The nominee to be the next commander of U.S. Strategic Command has been public since June 25, but the current commander isn’t speaking out definitively about his future plans. Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler has been at the helm of STRATCOM since Jan. 2011. Last month, President Obama nominated Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney to be his replacement, with Air Force Lt. Gen. James Kowalski nominated to be the next deputy commander. Haney is currently the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Kehler told reporters this morning that he didn’t want to get out in front of the Defense Department…
