Air Force

HASC Subcommittees to Kick Off 2014 NDAA Sausage-Making

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DIA, DoD, Drones, F-35, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, Navy, New Tech, Policy, Sequestration, Shipbuilding, Space No Comments

Military officers wait for members to arrive for a House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee hearing on Feb. 28. The same room will host multiple HASC subpanels as they build their parts of 2014 Pentagon policy legislation. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

It’s that time again: National defense authorization act season. (Just loosen your tie and take a deep breath, nervous defense wonk, Intercepts is mildly confident your program is going to survive. Probably.)

Following long-held custom, the House Armed Services Committee kicks things off this week with a series of subcommittee mark ups as the panel begins building its 2014 Pentagon policy bill.

The subcommittees should give defense wonks a look at their initial bills as soon as today (Tuesday), before each issue-specific subpanel makes changes on Wednesday or Thursday. As we reported May 6 in our defense authorization preview, armed drones, base closures and what to do about sequestration will be top-shelf issues.

Though not specifically the purview of Defense News readers, add to the top-issue list the sexual assault epidemic that’s plaguing the military. Full subcommittee-by-subcommittee schedule, after the jump. More

Photo of the Day: May 17, 2013

By John T. Bennett in Air Force, Army, DoD, Marine Corps, Navy, Obama, Policy No Comments Tags:

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with Pentagon leaders on Thursday in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Obama met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, service secretaries, and service chiefs to discuss sexual assault in the military. The U.S. military is dealing with a wave of sexual assault cases, the latest being a soldier who worked in a rape prevention program who is accused of forcing a subordinate into prostitution. The latest revelation marked the second time in a week that a member of the military assigned to work in its sexual assault prevention program has been placed under investigation for alleged sexual crimes. Notably, the president has not yet fired any uniformed officer nor a senior civilian Pentagon official due to the military's sexual assault crisis. (AFP PHOTO/Mandel Ngan/Getty)

F-22s Parked Less Than Six-Minute Flight from Iran

By Marcus Weisgerber in Air Force, DoD, Intercepts, International, Iran, Israel, Operations, Policy No Comments

Five US Air Force F-22 Raptors on the ramp at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. (Google Earth)

At a dinner in downtown Washington Thursday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel touted the Pentagon’s deployment of advanced weaponry, including the Air Force F-22 Raptor, to the Middle East.

The stealthy fighters, as well other “high-end air, missile defense, and naval assets,” have been positioned in the region “to deter Iranian aggression and respond to other contingencies,” Hagel said during his remarks to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

It just so happens that satellite imagery of those F-22s in the Middle East has popped up on Google Earth. More

Schumer Aligns Himself with GOP on East Coast Missile Shield, Lobbies for New York

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, International, Policy, Sequestration No Comments

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at an April 25 event in Washington. Schumer is the first senior Senate Democrat to endorse an East Coast missile shield. (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)

The idea for an East Coast missile defense system is just that, for now, at least: an idea. Sizable political and financial hurdles sill must be cleared before it becomes anything but just an idea.

Yet, the angling among lawmakers to secure a piece of the action has begun. And it was kicked off by a somewhat unlikely source: liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer. But one skeptical organization is taking umbrage with the No. 3 Senate Democrat’s lobbying to host the proposed system in New York. More

Drone Week Begins as Armed UAVs’ Familiar ‘Buzz’ Becoming Less Frequent

By John T. Bennett in Afghanistan, Air Force, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy, Video No Comments Tags: , , , , ,

Since last December, Congress has had Fiscal Cliff Week then Sequestration Week then CR Week and most recently Budget Week. The Senate even had Guns Week. And now comes Drone Week.

Two congressional panels on Tuesday are holding hearings on the role of armed unmanned aircraft in future military operations — and the very legality of using armed drones to kill al Qaeda leaders and operatives. Yet, data about the frequency of U.S. drone strikes reveals several interesting things. More

War Drums: Levin, McCain Urge Obama to Use U.S. Force in Syria

By John T. Bennett in Air Force, Capitol Hill, DoD, Intercepts, International, Navy, Operations, Policy Tags: ,

A Syrian rebel crosses a street while trying to dodge sniper fire in the old city of Aleppo in northern Syria on March 11, 2013. Syria warned on March 12 it is ready to fight "for years" against rebels. Reports this week that Syrian forces used chemical weapons have increased calls from U.S. lawmakers for American intervention. (JM LOPEZ/AFP via Getty)

The drums of war are escalating in Washington, audible just beneath the Senate’s tense political debate of a Democratic-crafted budget. But the drums are not beating in the direction of Iran. Syria is the target. More

Today in Military History: Feb. 26, 1949, first around-the-world flight

By Blair Tomlinson in Air Force, Intercepts, Today in Military History Tags: , ,

Boeing B-50A "Lucky Lady II" of the 43rd Bomb Group, Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. (U.S. Air Force photo)

On February, 26, 1949, Air Force Capt. James Gallagher begins the first nonstop around-the-world flight in the Lucky Lady II,  a B-50A-5-BO (S/N 46-010) assigned to the 43rd Bomb Group. The flight which lasted from Feb. 26 to March 2, 1949, took 94 hours, 1 minute to complete. The venture began and ended at Carswell AFB, Texas.

AFA Orlando: Cleaning out the notebook

By Aaron Mehta in Air Force, F-35, Industry, Intercepts

A look at the exhibition floor at last week's AFA (Aaron Mehta)

Last week, your intrepid reporter trucked down to Orlando, Fla. to attend the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium. The event itself was good fun, and provided some great coverage, such as:

But to add some color, I thought I’d throw a few pictures up here. Above is a panorama with my iPhone of the show floor.

Keeping in mind that the phone’s camera is hardly professional grade and that panoramas are tricky to get right, I think it gives you a sense of just how empty the show floor felt this year.

According to an AFA spokeswoman, there were roughly the same number of attendees, but around 40 percent fewer exhibitors. A large chunk of those attending were in uniform, which mean they spent most of the day taking in speeches rather than roaming the hall. Hence, empty-looking exhibition room.

We have a small collection of photos after the jump. Come and join us. More

Sen. Rand Paul: Let Defense Sequester Cuts Stand — Then Cut More

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, International Tags: , , , , , , ,

To say tea party Republicans, particularly in the House, are driving the congressional agenda is not accurate. But this faction of conservative, small-government Republicans have been able to significantly influence congressional leaders’ actions.

And few other factions can say that.

Defense firms, in placing their sequester bets, might consider that before dismissing what Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during the tea party’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

“It is time Democrats admit that not every dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred,” Paul said. “And it is time Republicans realize that military spending is not immune to waste and fraud.” More

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