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U.S. Air Force News

  • Women's symposium fosters networking, leadership development

    The Sea Services Leadership Association hosted the 27th Annual Joint Women's Leadership Symposium here June 12-13, to recognize the strengths and talents of women in the armed forces and discuss the unique aspects of being a female service member.

  • RPAs meet mission goals safe and on time

    Airmen stationed in the continental U.S. and in deployed locations throughout the world drew on decades of Air Force aviation experience to achieve 65 simultaneous remotely piloted combat air patrols last month.

  • CCAF graduates 350,000th student

    Base leaders, families and service members gathered here June 13 to welcome the spring 2014 graduates of the Community College of the Air Force.Officials awarded selected students with the Pitsenbarger Award Scholarship, the John and Kathy Hood Military Scholarship and made a special presentation to

  • ANG, Army test earthquake response

    More than 100 members of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Contingency Response Group and the U.S. Army’s 688th Rapid Port Opening Element deployed here June 16-19 for an exercise that will test their ability to respond to a major earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone.The exercise,

  • Air Force ready if called upon for Iraq

    The Air Force is fully engaged in planning efforts to provide options for the situation in Iraq and is ready to provide its capabilities if necessary, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said here June 17.

  • BMT quarters temporarily housing immigrant minors

    A former BMT facility was turned into a temporary shelter May 18 by the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. The shelter is for unaccompanied Central American minors who have been caught illegally crossing into the U.S.

  • Generating Airpower: The heart of an F-16

    When Airman 1st Class Ashton Youngblood was 17 years old, he spent an entire year rebuilding a Ford F-150 pickup truck from the ground up. He didn't know it at the time, but it was just a minor tune-up for what his career had in store.

  • Westover airlifts 26 tons of aid to Nicaragua

    A training mission doubled as a humanitarian relief effort for Reserve Airmen from the 439th Airlift Wing, Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts, as 13 Airmen delivered 26 tons of cargo to Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport, Nicaragua, June 10.

  • Air Force C-130s land at Lielvarde AB for the first time

    Three U.S. Air Force C-130J Hercules from the 37th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, landed on Lielvarde Air Base, Latvia, June 17, making them the first U.S. Air Force aircraft to land at the newly renovated installation.

  • Engineering and Installation Airmen keep the mission connected

    Every time a connection is made to the internet to contact loved ones back home, or an aircraft flies over head, a signal is running through a cable somewhere keeping everyone communicating. Learn more about the Airmen who make the connection.

  • Airmen rescue injured mountain climber

    Two Airmen from the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord risked their lives to rescue an injured climber from Mount Rainier May 28.

  • DOD, AF leaders look to F-35 maintainers for help

    The Pentagon will continue to seek aircraft maintainer suggestions and industry partner investments to reduce operating and sustainment costs by 10 to 20 percent as F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter improvements develop, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics

  • Wounded warrior battles life, career, competition

    He had known about the cancer, but until his trip to the emergency room that day in 2007, he hadn’t been told how far it had spread throughout his body. The doctor then shared with the master sergeant that his chances of survival over the next five years were at 55 percent and if he was willing to

  • AFCEC, AFCYBER partnership boosts infrastructure security

    The commander from Air Forces Cyber and the director the Air Force Civil Engineer Center signed an initiative here June 12, designed to strengthen the security of industrial control systems, or ICS, supporting critical Air Force infrastructures.

  • Cheating in ALS: Zero tolerance for compromise of core values

    The best way to succeed in Airman Leadership School, and not resort to cheating, is to be open and honest with leadership before enrolling, understand the gravity of the demanding coursework, and be prepared for it, said Senior Master Sgt. Leyla Gillett, Langley Air Force Base ALS commandant.

  • Misawa launches first Global Hawk

    The RQ-4 Global Hawk made its first operational flight out of Misawa Air Base on June 6. The flight marked two milestones: the first time an RQ-4 mission has flown out of Japan, and the first operational mission flown out of a jointly-used civilian and military airfield.

  • AF test pilot school applications due in June

    The 2014 U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, or TSP, selection board will convene here Aug. 5-8 to consider candidates for July 2015 and January 2016 classes, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.

  • Airmen, Sailors build Navy mines for B-1 deployment

    Ellsworth Airmen partnered with several U.S. Navy minesmen June 2 through 7 during a joint training mission to exercise the B-1B Lancer's capabilities in deploying Navy mines.The 28th Munitions Squadron members teamed up with midshipmen from the Naval Munitions Command Seal Beach for the first time

  • 1st Space Ops assumes space surveillance mission

    The 1st Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colorado, will assume command and control of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) this summer. The satellites are a space-based capability that will operate in the near-geosynchronous orbit regime supporting U.S. Strategic

  • Airman expresses self through spoken-word poetry

    "Spoken-word is a platform," said Airman 1st Class Christopher Malone, 56th Medical Support Squadron medical laboratory apprentice at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. "It's not the poetry you write, put in a book and sell. It's revolutionary. It's a movement." Spoken-word poetry dates back to ancient

  • AFCENT rolls out new leave, pass policy

    U.S. Air Forces Central Command officials released the command's revised leave policy June 6, which affects Airmen serving 12-month tours in Southwest Asia.In its recent recertification of the Imminent Danger Pay program, the Department of Defense determined that, effective June 1, personnel serving

  • Friendship knows no borders

    Four-year-old Sarah reached out to grasp her friend Fatou's hand as she has every day since Fatou first arrived at the Maxwell Air Force Base child development center in August 2013. On this day, Sarah led Fatou to the dance floor, placing her in a specific position like a delicate wall fixture.

  • Mountain Home Fire Department receives DOD award

    The Mountain Home Air Force Base Fire Department was recently recognized as the winner of the 2013 Department of Defense Fire and Emergency Services of the Year award in the small fire department category.

  • Key spouse program key to family readiness

    Air Force spouses are key to maintaining stability on the home front as Airmen maintain focus on the war front, according to the wife of the Air Force’s top officer.

  • Airman's grandfather part of post-Normandy air campaign

    D-Day. The mere mention of the epic invasion can evoke a barrage of images in people's minds spanning the spectrum between horror and glory. For Master Sgt. Matthew Carey, 28th Bomb Wing Treaty Compliance Office superintendent, it conjures thoughts of a man he barely knew and whose grandest

  • Space fence contract awarded

    The Air Force awarded a $914,699,474 contract to Lockheed Martin on June 2, 2014 to develop a system that will track objects in Earth's orbit with far greater confidence and fidelity.

  • AF Museum breaks ground on $35.4M expansion

    The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force broke ground today on a new $35.4 million building that will house aircraft from the museum's Presidential, Research and Development (R&D) and Global Reach collection, as well as a new and expanded Space Gallery.

  • U.S., Polish Airmen support largest combined training

    U.S. and Polish airmen started training together at Lask Air Base, Poland, June 2, during the largest theater security cooperation event ever hosted by the U.S. Air Force Aviation Detachment in Poland, according to Av-Det officials.

  • President signs CAP medal into law

    President Barack Obama today signed into law S. 309, the bill awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to Civil Air Patrol for its service during World War II.

  • Secretary James visits 403rd Wing

    Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James met with civic leaders, toured facilities and spoke to the Airmen and senior leaders of the 403rd Wing alongside Mississippi's 4th district U.S. Representative Steven Palazzo and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker during a visit to Keesler Air Force Base in

  • Ramstein Airmen rekindle piece of D-Day history

    Seventy years ago, young men from the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron at RAF Cottesmore, England, prepared their aircraft and themselves for what would soon be known as one of the most significant and meaningful days in the history of the world...D-Day.

  • Eglin welcomes final F-35A

    The 58th Fighter Squadron became the Air Force's first complete F-35A Lightning II squadron after they welcomed their 26th and final F-35A May 28 at the 33rd Fighter Wing, here.

  • Pacific Defender builds multi-national security ties

    Andersen Air Force Base hosted a Security Forces Pacific Defender international subject-matter expert exchange, or SMEE, May 19-23, to help build partnerships across the Pacific region and promote interoperability.

  • AF 'impossible' rescue mission recognized

    On the remote coastline of Eastern Iceland, inaccessible to ordinary travel, a plaque was dedicated May 30 to commemorate a U.S. Air Force rescue team operation accomplished 20 years earlier.On Jan. 10, 1994, members of the 56th Rescue Squadron, then located at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland,

  • Nuclear deterrence medal approved for total force Airmen

    The Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal, approved May 27 by Secretary of the Air Force Deborah James, is among several incentives focused on attracting and retaining high-caliber Airmen in the nuclear mission, Air Force Personnel Center officials said May 30.

  • Battlefield Airborne Communications Node ensures warfighter connectivity

    Three recent achievements demonstrate how a critical communications capability managed here is continuing to keep warfighters connected. The Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or BACN, translates and distributes imagery, video, voice and data, often from disparate elements, improving

  • AF pilot helps in airline emergency

    An in-flight medical emergency caused Capt. Mark Gongol, a B-1B Lancer pilot, to jump into action and help safely land a commercial 737 on Dec. 30, 2013.

  • Allied air forces paved way for D-Day

    The mention of "D-Day" conjures iconic images of men storming a beach riddled with barbed wire, smoke and craters created by German mortar batteries; of men advancing toward machine gun nests and acts of heroism as they made their way inland to secure a foothold in mainland Europe.

  • A beacon in the storm

    Tech. Sgt. David Gray could only watch as she leaned forward and softly kissed him goodbye. There was simply nothing more that could have been done. Feeling helpless, standing bedside with his mother, every imposing inch of his muscular frame had just been rocked. The aftershocks had yet to be felt,

  • Air Force recommends four-star position for Global Strike Command

    Air Force leaders continue to implement improvements to the Air Force’s nuclear mission and increase support to the men and women who operate, maintain and support the nation’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile force. Following visits to the missile bases and visits with the Airmen who perform the

  • Biden to Class of 2014: 'You carry America on your back'

    The Air Force Academy's Class of 2014 will face new missions as the United States draws down in Afghanistan, but the challenges they encounter will be no less formidable and complex, Vice President Joseph R. Biden said during the Academy's commencement May 28.

  • AF honors fallen hero with ship renaming

    The Air Force decided May 23, to honor a fallen hero by naming the service’s newest pre-positioning vessel after Air Force logistician Capt. David I. Lyon.

  • Wrenches to wings: munitions maintainer becomes F-15C pilot

    Second Lt. Kyle Wheeler once prepared weapons for the F-15C Eagle as an munitions maintenance operator. After earning his commission, Wheeler is in the initial stages to climb into the cockpit and drop the weapons he once delivered.

  • Hurricane Hunters partner with NOAA to educate public

    The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew to the Tallahassee Regional Airport in Florida, May 22 to team up with the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the fourth day of a week-long Hurricane Awareness Tour.

  • Force protection, fire department team up for uniform burn

    Staff Sgt. Joshua Hellmich has done more than his fair share of "dumpster diving." It's up to this young NCO, along with members of his team assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's force protection flight, to ensure that no piece of critical information leaves the installation.

  • Combat Hammer 2014: Boosting RPA strike proficiency

    Airmen from the 432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing and the air-to-ground weapons system evaluation program, or WSEP, team participated in the 2014 Combat Hammer exercise May 12-15, to operationally assess and evaluate the reliability, maintainability, suitability, and accuracy of remotely

  • Travis AFB hosts historic MWD trial

    The Travis Air Force Base trial brought 66 competitors from 29 different agencies to the base, with more than 400 spectators in attendance. The competition tested the ability of military working dog handlers and canines to work in cohesion in the fields of explosives and narcotics detection,

  • B-1B crews validate Ellsworth's long-range strike capability

    Two B-1B Lancer aircrews flew a 30-hour, non-stop, long-range precision strike training mission from Ellsworth to strike targets on a range near Guam before landing back on base as part of a Global Power training mission, May 13 and 14.

  • CSAF provides ‘initial feedback’ to all commanders

    All supervisors are required to provide subordinates with an initial feedback, outlining expectations, standards and goals they can both work together to achieve. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III led the way by introducing the new Air Force Instruction 1-2 “Commander’s

  • Cancer survivor becomes pilot for a day

    John Austin survived infant leukemia, seven surgeries, chemotherapy, respiratory failure and dozens of blood transfusions. Thanks to the 58th Airlift Squadron, he can now add Air Force pilot to that list.

  • House approves Congressional Gold Medal for Civil Air Patrol

    When the founding members of Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force auxiliary, risked life and limb to help protect the home front during the early days of World War II, they weren’t looking for recognition. Some seven decades later, though, they’re receiving it, thanks to the U.S. House of

  • Premium DOD exercise hones special operations skills

    More than 1,500 Special Operations Forces from around the services participated in Emerald Warrior, a two-week joint service, inter-agency and partner nation exercise that concluded May 9 at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

  • Colorado ANG, Jordan: 10 years of brotherhood

    When Airmen from the Colorado Air National Guard's 140th Wing arrived May 11 as judges for exercise Eager Tiger, it marked the reunion of a partnership 10 years in the making.

  • Air Force moves closer to KC-46A beddown

    The Air Force is a step closer to bedding down its anticipated fleet of KC-46A Pegasus aerial tankers. Officials recently announced Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma will serve as the Air Force's KC-46A formal training unit and McConnell AFB, Kansas will be the first active duty-led main operating base

  • SecAF honored for 30 years of service

    Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James was the keynote speaker for the PenFed Foundation’s Night of Heroes Gala, May 14 and was presented the American Hero Award by the nineteenth Chief of Staff of the Air Force, retired General Norton A. Schwartz, for her 30 years of work in the private and

  • Polish military decorates AF special ops civilian

    The Polish Armed Forces awarded one of its highest military decorations May 6 to an Air Force Special Operations Command civilian. Roy Vaughn, an AFSOC exercise planner, received the Polish Armed Forces Medal during a ceremony in Warsaw, Poland. Vaughn played a major role in training PAF to operate

  • Aviano AB Airmen support Army mission to Poland

    Airmen from Aviano Air Base recently supported a series of troop movements in partnership with U.S. Army Europe's Land Forces Assurance Exercises.Aircraft services technicians assigned to 724th Air Mobility Squadron here, worked around the clock to provide air mobility operations and support to the

  • Expeditionary group wraps-up Baltic deployment

    The 48th Air Expeditionary Group handed over the reins of NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission to the air forces of Poland and the United Kingdom during a ceremony at Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania April 30.

  • Hometown friends serve together on deployment

    For Air Force Lt. Col. Elizabeth Clay, Air Force Col. Brad Hoagland made a difference in her life and career more than 28 years ago, when the two were in high school. Today, they find themselves serving together halfway around the world -- he as the vice commander of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing

  • Exercise Eager Tiger 2014 off to a roaring start

    Exercise Eager Tiger 2014 officially kicked off May 11 at an air base in northern Jordan, bringing together U.S. and Jordanian military forces and giving them the chance to participate in friendly competitions while expressing their commitment to regional security and stability.

  • SecAF honors Airmen with leadership awards

    Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James presented four Airmen with the 2014 Secretary of the Air Force Leadership Award, May 5, during ceremonies at Air University schools here.

  • 'Macho Spouse' creator represents AF at top spouse awards

    The husband of an Air Education and Training Command major represented the Air Force in the 2014 Military Spouse of the Year awards ceremony, honoring a spouse from each service. Christopher Pape, husband of Maj. Dana Pape, AETC resources section chief, was one of six representing the services to be

  • NOAA, Hurricane Hunters team up for awareness tour

    An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircrew with their WC-130J Hercules and a team of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane forecasters visited three Mexican and two Caribbean cities May 4-11 as part of the annual Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour.