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Tuesday March 25, 2008
Preparing For a New Command Hub: Air Forc  e and contractor personnel, led by the Electronic Systems Center’s 652nd Electronic Systems Squadron, plan to begin equipment installation in July at the new facility being built at an air base in Southwest Asia to house Air Forces Central’s new combined air and space operations center. The software and hardware installation will take roughly four months to complete. Once up and running, the new CAOC “will tremendously enhance” the command and control capabilities available to the combined forces air component commander to plan and execute air campaigns, said Capt. Amber Ward, Air and Space Operations Center Weapons System program manager at ESC. This includes “a greater capability to receive and translate time-sensitive information at a quicker rate,” and the “potential of accomplishing more missions” based on intelligence coming in at a faster rate, she said. Earlier in March, a 15-member ESC team, including Ward, visited the air base in the host nation to check on construction of the facility and provide input on any last-minute planning and engineering. AFCENT oversees air operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. The new CAOC will succeed the existing one at the same base. (Hanscom report by Monica D. Morales)
Litter-ally Saving Lives: Air Mobility Command is interested in a lightweight, man-portable litter system that could easily be used by aeromedical evacuation teams on transport aircraft that lack an onboard litter system. “A man-portable litter system that’s small and light enough to be stored at the AE team’s location has the potential to speed up the evacuation of patients significantly,” said MSgt. Christopher Sidoli of the Air Mobility Battlelab at Ft. Dix, N.J. In fact, “it has the potential to save lives—that's the bottom line,” he said. Sidoli led a project last year that evaluated Lifeport’s Stacking Litter System that was originally designed to evacuate patients on helicopters. AMB completed a concept demonstration in June 2007 on a KC-135 tanker with extremely positive results, Sidoli said. The battlelab briefed AMC headquarters on it in December, recommending its fielding. AMC’s surgeon general’s office is also high on the SLS, saying it would “contribute to a more robust and flexible aeromedical evacuation system.” The AMB, like all the Air Force’s battlelabs, will deactivate by the end of September as part of a USAF-wide cost-savings initiative. (USAF report by TSgt. Scott T. Sturkol)
Tribute to Airmen: Air Force Special Operations Command dedicated an area of its Melrose Bombing Range at Cannon AFB, N.M., March 14 to the memory of the crew of Jockey 14, an AC-130 gunship that crashed off the coast of Kenya 14 years ago. The aircraft was supporting UN forces in Somalia March 4, 1994, when it had an in-flight explosion and crash landed. Eight of the aircraft’s 14 aircrew were lost in the mishap. The area at the range is now known as “the Jockey 14 live-impact area,” AFSOC said in a release March 20.
Standing Out in a Stealth World: Maintainers of the F-22 at Langley AFB, Va., say they have been able to shave off 39 percent of the time that it takes to maintain the low-observable coating of the modern stealth fighter. “The implications are huge for the F-22 program,” said Col. Tyrone Strachan, commander of Langley’s 1st Maintenance Group. “Improving LO means improving combat capability by improving F-22 availability.” A pow-wow of Langley maintainers took place for five days last December as part of the Air Force Smart Operations 21 initiative to discuss how to improve work-flow efficiencies for the time-intensive process of maintaining the Raptor’s stealth attributes. Now, with knowledge gained, they are spreading their insights to their counterparts at the other F-22 bases, including Tyndall AFB, Fla., home of Raptor training; Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, which is standing up as the second base for combat-ready F-22s; and Holloman AFB, N.M., which is due to get its first two combat-ready F-22s in June. “They will have much easier time setting up their LO sections and being more efficient from the start,” said Strachan of Elmendorf and Holloman. (Langley report by A1C Chase Skylar DeMayo)
Preserving an Aerospace Industry Workforce: The Congressionally mandated Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Task Force in its first of five annual reports, released by the Labor Department last week, has recommended “sustained collaboration” among federal agencies; an “integrated, cross-agency and public/private investment strategy;” and “knowledge sharing” to confront the challenges of a “graying workforce” and a too small potential replacement pool, states the report. In a year-long review of the state of the aerospace workforce, the task force discovered that in addition to the fact that there are fewer students obtaining degrees in the critical science, technical, engineering, and math fields (the percentage has fallen from 32 percent in 1995 to 27 percent in 2004), many of those students who do enter aerospace leave because “other careers [are] more stimulating,” according to the report. And, it found that many current aerospace workers “would not recommend aerospace careers for their children” because of concerns of instability and lack of opportunities for innovation. The task force plans this year to create cross-agency project teams to convert its strategies “into concrete action plans.”
USAF Deepens Ties with Morocco: The US Air Force and Royal Moroccan Air Force have expanded their bilateral relationship with the RMAF’s purchase of 24 new F-16 Block 52 aircraft, along with training, and support equipment, according to USAF officials. The Pentagon notified Congress of the pending sale Dec. 18, 2007. USAF said that RMAF agreed to the transaction March 12 and expects the RMAF to begin operations with its new F-16s in mid-2011. Under the terms of the deal, a USAF instructor pilot will train RMAF fliers in Morocco. Lockheed Martin officials last fall said they believe the F-16 production line would continue for some time, even as the F-35 production ramps up at the company’s Fort Worth production facility, because of continuing international orders.
Three Fly Last Heritage Flight: Tw  o retired Air Force pilots and one civilian pilot who have been part of USAF’s annual Heritage Flight program since it began in 1997, flew their last Heritage Flight missions during the 2008 conference at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., earlier this month, according to a March 20 Air Combat Command release. Retired Maj. Gen. William A. Anders flew then-Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman in a P-51 Mustang in 1997 as part of USAF’s 50th anniversary celebration, sparking the start of the Heritage Flight program, in which aircraft of days gone by are flown in formation with some of today’s USAF aircraft at air shows around the country. The annual conference at Davis-Monthan provides a training session for the upcoming demonstration season, and this year included 27 different aircraft, from the P-40 to the F-22. Retired Brig. Gen. Regis F.A. Urschler said the Heritage Flight program “has been one of the most rewarding and satisfying experiences of my aviation career. The other original Heritage pilot to end his program tenure, Charles R. Hall, said, “It’s a wonderful program, and it provides a small service to our country that I’m very proud of.” For Anders, the program was “a good way for me to pay back my parent service that has been really good to me through all the years.” (Air Combat Command 2008 demonstration schedules, click on the shields; more images and video clip of the Davis-Monthan training flights.)
Helping Hand: A C-17 transport aircraft operated by an Air Force Reserve crew from the 315th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, S.C., flew a mission March 15 to deliver school supplies to children of the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. Private organizations donated the pens and papers and other materials that the C-17 carried under the auspices of the US government’s Denton program, which allows donors to use space available on military cargo airplanes to deliver humanitarian goods. (USAF report by Maj. Bill Walsh)
Three Airmen Receive Bronze Stars: The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals to an explosive ordnance disposal technician, an Office of Special Investigations special agent, and a ground combat instructor. MSgt. Manuel Camacho, an instructor with the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla., received his Bronze Star for exceptionally meritorious service during a year-long assignment as combat aviation security forces advisor and senior air base defense advisor in Baghdad, where he trained 105 Iraqi officers and enlisted personnel in security tactics. TSgt. Kenneth Perry, an EOD tech with the 96th Civil Engineer Squadron at Eglin, exhibited exceptionally meritorious service during his deployment to Iraq, where he served as leader for a three-person team that conducted 120 combat missions over a six-month period. OSI Special Agent Jac Christiansen, assigned to Columbus AFB, Miss., served with an Air Force and Marine Corps unit in Iraq, where his meritorious service included helping reduce improvised explosive device incidents.
Update the Bio: Lt. Gen. Stephen G. Wood, commander of the Seventh Air Force in South Korea, has a new name: Woo Chang-hee. The Republic of Korea-US Alliance Friendship Society presented Wood with the Korean name Monday during a ceremony at Osan Air Base, the Korean Times reported March 24. According to the newspaper, citing society officials, the surname, Woo, was selected partially on the phonetic sound of the general’s last name. Chang signifies the color blue, symbolizing the blue sky, while hee means shining, the Times reported. Together Chang-hee means “an air force hero who reflects the mission of safeguarding the airspace of the Korean peninsula,” the newspaper said, citing the society. Wood is also deputy chief of the US Forces Korea.
Distinguished Visitor: President George W. Bush is scheduled to give a speech on the war on terror March 27 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force on the grounds of Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The speech will be an invitation-only event and the museum will be closed to the general public for the day. The museum has the world’s largest display of military aviation. (USAF report by Rob Bardua)
Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest Asia:
March 21-22, 2008
| Sortie Type |
OIF |
OEF |
OIF/OEF |
Total |
YTD |
| ISR |
47 |
19 |
|
66 |
2,215 |
| CAS/Armed Recon |
132 |
79 |
|
211 |
6,733 |
| Airlift |
|
|
312 |
312 |
10,078 |
| Air refueling |
|
|
87 |
87 |
3,126 |
| Total |
|
|
|
676 |
22,152 | OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom
OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom
ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance
YTD = Year to Date
Airlift includes Horn of Africa data
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