Browse by Tags

• Afghanistan
• AFSOC
• air base defense
• amphibious vehicle
• Arlington Cemetery
• AT-6
• B-52
• Blackwater
• C-17
• Churchill
• COIN
• COIN aircraft 2
• cyberspace
• danger room
• DoD
• Excalibur
• F-22
• fire
• friday fun photos
• General Schwartz
• information
• Iraq
• ISR
• LTTE
• NASA
• Nukes
• roles and missions
• SAC
• San Diego
• SECDEF Gates
• SOF
• soft power
• terrorism
• UAV
• US Army
• US Navy
• USAF Security Forces
• USCG
• USMC
• Vietnam

• Giving Thanks

  Photo caption: A B-52 Stratofortress aircraft out of Minot Air Force Base, N.D., flies over the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 13, 2008. The aircraft is deployed to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and is part of a continuing... Posted Nov 27 2008, 03:37 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, B-52, Arlington Cemetery

• Attention Air Force flight line personnel: beware of propellers!

  OK, it is looking more and more like the Air Force under the leadership of General Norty Schwartz is really considering doing the unthinkable from just a couple years ago: getting serious about counter-insurgency airpower. For years, Air Force leaders... Posted Nov 12 2008, 11:04 AM by Otto with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: USAF, AT-6, COIN aircraft 2, danger room, General Schwartz

• Planning for the future and UAV's: be wary of 40 year projections

  (I've had this post done for over a week but Mr. Gates and his minions kept blocking me, I showed them!) Top Gun Commander “Viper” to “Maverick” on the fight the day his Dad (his pet aircraft program) was killed: What I'm about to tell you is... Posted Nov 03 2008, 10:38 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, UAV, COIN aircraft 2, DoD, B-52

• Around the web: piracy prevention, light attack airplanes, and amhib vehicles

  I’m going to try and do some quick, little updates on stuff around the web. Noah Shachtman, who I had a beer with during MilBlogs two years ago, has a great operation for defense technology and even policy and operations stuff at Wired Magazines blog... Posted Oct 18 2008, 11:02 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, amphibious vehicle, COIN aircraft 2, danger room, Blackwater, LTTE

• Is the United States Air Force seriously considering adopting an armed light propellor driven aircraft for Strike/ISR??

  Inadvertent H/t to Danger Room, I went to the link looking for information on arming Shadow UAV's and instead, got this story excerpt instead from Inside the Air Force, a subscription news service that often breaks news stories and is generally well... Posted Oct 11 2008, 10:29 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, COIN aircraft 2, DoD, SECDEF Gates, General Schwartz, ISR

• Farewell to the Mighty MH-53 Pave Low Helicopter and a "well done" to the men who flew her and those that maintained them

  Photo caption: MH-53 Pave Low helicopters prepare to take off for their final combat mission Sept. 27 in Iraq. The MH-53 was retired from the Air Force inventory Sept. 30. It was the largest and most technologically advanced helicopter in the Air Force... Posted Oct 04 2008, 10:03 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: SOF, Iraq, AFSOC, USAF

• Is this Air Force video a waste of resources? Not known if it cost us taxpayers money ....but sure looks like it

  I just came across this post at the military blog OPFOR posted by John. It appears to be a video created by, or more accurately, contracted by the 341s Operations Support Squadron, Malmstrom Air Force Base. The video lists the following: -- A 341 st OSS... Posted Sep 26 2008, 02:03 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, SAC

• Air Force leaders give hints, discuss priorities for immediate adjustments

  There is much movement on the issues confronting the US Air Force. This interview here between NPR and the new Chief of Staff General Norty Schwartz contains a few nuggets: n The number of F-22’s being floated is 240, up from the current of 183, far down... Posted Aug 27 2008, 12:06 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, Nukes, General Schwartz

• General Norty Schwartz assumes command of the US Air Force: Welcome aboard Boss

  General Norty Schwartz assumed the duty as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force yesterday. General Schwartz, welcome and good luck. In a video message to Airmen here , he made the following points (paraphrased) We will keep the Air Force promise... Posted Aug 13 2008, 09:37 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF, General Schwartz

• Questions from Secretary Gates on the future of the Air Force

  On April 21 st of this year, Defense Secretary Gates addressed the students and faculty of the Air War College. I’ve extracted (as best I can) the “requests for information” contained within the speech. The following is as close to the exact wording and... Posted Jul 31 2008, 12:53 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF

• Do you have what it takes to improve an Air Force? to help defend the nation?

  Preceding the firings/resignations of the two senior officials in the US Air Force, the Chief of Staff Buzz Mosely and the Secretary Michael Wynne, Secretary Gates gave a series of speeches giving serious hints at what was on his mind and what direction... Posted Jul 29 2008, 10:06 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: Excalibur, USAF, COIN aircraft 2, F-22

• USAF news roundup: the good, the bad, and the ugly

  There’s lots of press about the US Air Force these days, much of it negative. Yesterday, this New York Times article featuring Lt.General Gary North predicted an increased role for airpower as the drawdown of forces continues in Iraq, with potential acceleration... Posted Jul 29 2008, 10:48 AM by Otto with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: USAF

• No weapon too short for a brave man: Announcing a new Excalibur project to help the US Air Force

  My friend Brian Shul , aviator, author, and photographer, has a poster hanging in his gallery of the A-7 attack aircraft (which he flew after recovering from his burns after his crash in Vietnam). The poster shows A-7’s and has this caption: No weapon... Posted Jul 27 2008, 11:48 AM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: Excalibur, USAF

• How much in common:The Titanic and some Air Force leaders: the band played on while the ship sinks....perhaps we can save the ship?

  First, let me set the record straight: I don't hate fighter pilots, in fact, I truly believe the spirit of the fighter pilot flows through my veins just as the spirit of a special operator does too. So when I take exception and cheer at the selection... Posted Jun 15 2008, 08:46 PM by Otto with | with no comments Filed under: USAF

• Our long national Air Force nightmare is over: Gates picks General Norty Schwartz as USAF Chief of staff

  In a move even the LA Times understood by titling their story "Gates names non-fighter pilot to head Air Force" Secretary Gates has made a power play reminscent of Secretary Rumsfeld when he picked Special Operator Peter Schoomaker as Army Chief... Posted Jun 09 2008, 07:22 PM by Otto with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: USAF