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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 operation to maintain a bomber presence in the...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 11-27-2008
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, their surrogate talking heads, and hired think-tanks...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 11-12-2008
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 classified. It could end my career. We were in the...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 11-03-2008
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 called Danger Room , I link there frequently. Wired...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 10-18-2008
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 respected and well sourced. Full tease here: Propeller...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 10-11-2008
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, with a service record dating back to the Vietnam...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 10-04-2008
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 Production -- In association with M2 Entertainment...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 09-26-2008
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 from the fantasy number of 381 n UAV’s will become...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 08-27-2008
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 to our Joint teammates and our families Precision...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 08-13-2008
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 in sequence, from that talk. On June 9 th , Secretary...

Posted to EXCALIBUR (Weblog) by Otto on 07-31-2008

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