Check out this week’s Air Force Times
February 20th, 2012 | Air Force Airframes Flightlines Politics | Posted by Jeff Schogol
In this week’s Air Force Times, you can read about what is buried in the service’s budget for next fiscal year, which plans to cut 9,900 airmen.
The Air Force has budgeted money for a reduction-in-force board to separate 388 officers, but a top service official says the Air Force isn’t planning any RIF or Selective Early Retirement Boards in fiscal 2013.
Meanwhile, airmen should expect to spend more time in classrooms and less time actually flying. The proposed budget would axe $38.4 million for pilot training, translating into 24,000 fewer flying hours next fiscal year.
The proposed spending cuts mean the Air Force expects to retire 227 aircraft next fiscal year. This week’s Air Force Times has a map showing which bases are losing or gaining planes.
In other news, the Air Force plans to roll out a system in which airmen can email Air Force doctors and request prescription renewals. The MiCare system should be available staring June 26.
Tags: AETC, budget, health care, personnel cuts, pilot training, prescription, RIF
Desktop background refresh
December 7th, 2011 | Air Force Airframes Photos | Posted by David Larter
If your desktop background needs a little shake-up, these awesome Air Force photos might be up to the task. To download the high-res versions click on the photo.
Taiwanese animation: U.S. drone shot down in Iran
December 5th, 2011 | Afghanistan Airframes Iran Next Media Animation UAV Video | Posted by David Larter
The good people at Next Media Animation are always quick on the draw when it comes to the latest news out of DoD. Here is their take of the recent downing of an Air Force Sentinel drone over Iran. The military says it’s unclear how the drone crashed in Iran. The Iranians claimed to have shot the stealthy drone out of the sky.
Tags: drone, Iran, Sentinel, Taiwanese Animation
Senator tries to take museum’s F-105
December 1st, 2011 | Air Force Airframes Flightlines Politics | Posted by Jill Laster
The Air Force received its first "Thud" in 1958.//Air Force
Ever want a military aircraft of your own? All it might take – apparently – is to know the right member of Congress.
Foreign Policy has reported an interesting story about Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who has introduced an amendment ordering an Arizona museum to give up an F-105 “loaned” to it by the Air Force in 1984.
Where would the plane go? To an unnamed individual who wants to restore the Thunderchief and fly it “to honor veterans of the Vietnam War through memorial flights and for the education and enjoyment of future generations of Americans.”
But the F-105 may be safe for now. The amendment has either died or gone on hiatus, reports Foreign Policy, quoting an anonymous source tracking the amendment.
F-15 crash site photos
November 30th, 2011 | Air Force Airframes Flightlines Photos | Posted by David Larter
There is nothing cool about losing a $30 million aircraft. But a couple good things did come from the F-15 crash near Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in October: the pilot ejected without injury and Airman 1st Class Daniel Hughes managed to snap some nifty photos of the cleanup process.
You can read more here. Click on photos to download the high-res version.
Airmen from the 820th Red Horse Squadron recover parts from a crashed F-15 earlier in November. // Airman 1st Class Daniel Hughes
Tags: crash, F-15, Nellis AFB
Royal watchers rejoice, Harry is coming to America
August 25th, 2011 | Afghanistan Air Force Airframes | Posted by David Larter
Capt. Henry Charles Albert David Windsor, better known as Great Britain’s Prince Harry, may be coming to an Air Force Base near you. You don’t have to be teenage girl to get excited about this heartthrob — although, ladies, he is single — because he’s not just another pretty face. He’s among world’s the most famous veterans of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. And he’s heading back.
The Telegraph reported earlier this summer that the prince, a captain in the British Army Air Corps, is heading back to the ‘Stan as an Apache attack helicopter pilot — no easy job. But not, the AP reports today, before he comes to the U.S. for training.
[A spokeswoman for Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.] confirmed that the prince is taking part in the Apache Conversion to Role course in the United Kingdom. That course continues in Exercise Crimson Eagle in Arizona and California.
Exercise Crimson Eagle has been held previously at the Barry M. Goldwater U.S. Air Force Range in southwestern Arizona.
If you need to be reminded, the Apache is a total badass of a helicopter. It often acts in a direct support role for troops in contact downrange. See this classic video of insurgents placing IEDs for proof:
Tags: afghanistan, Apache, British Army Air Corps, ISAF, Prince Harry