Free Republic

The “friendly fire” airstrike that killed five American soldiers in Afghanistan on June 9 is the first known case of a battlefield catastrophe that can be linked to automatic defense spending cuts that greatly curtailed prewar training. A review of the worst American fratricide in the long Afghanistan war also shows that the military’s official investigation faults a Green Beret commander, an Air Force air controller and the four-man crew on the B-1B bomber that conducted the errant strike. PHOTOS: Top 10 U.S. fighter jets But the investigation, headed by an Air Force general, does not question the use of...

NATO intercepted at least 19 Russian aircraft flying far outside Russia's airspace today, worrying the organization's officials. "These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace," NATO said in a statement released this afternoon. The Russian fighter jets and bombers were seen flying in three different regions. The intercepts came a week after widespread reports that a Russian submarine may have been spotted off the coast of Sweden. The North Sea and Atlantic Ocean had the largest fleet of Russian aircraft activity, with eight planes detected by NATO radar flying in formation from Russian airspace...

Let’s kick the Halloween week off with a couple of classic themed costumes: 1. The radio-controlled witch costume, designed by Otto Dieffenbach III, as seen flying over the ocean near Carlsbad California earlier this month: 2. The Religion of Pieces costume, designed by a radio controlled bomb compliments of the U.S. Air Force, as seen on a former member of ISIS, flying somewhere in the skies near Kurdistan earlier this month. Whichever costume you choose, please be sure to keep your head while wearing it, as these are actual flying models and may be dangerous if used improperly. Because what...

Dr. Reina Pennington, Associate Professor of History Norwich University. The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units--grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments--while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences...

Family Court Judge William Potter responded Thursday to an allegation that he discriminated against a lesbian mother being deployed to Cuba. “Obviously I don’t have a problem with her being gay because I gave her custody,” the judge said. Potter’s comments stemmed from a Las Vegas Review-Journal story about the divorce case of Michelle Bagalawis, who since has changed her last name to Angeles, and Johnny Cardona. Angeles and Cardona, who have a 7-year-old son, were divorced in January 2012. Angeles, a first lieutenant in the Air Force, married a woman in March 2012. After Angeles’ recent deployment to Cuba,...

The lesbian mother of a 7-year-old boy is appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court to keep her son in Las Vegas during her four-month deployment to Cuba. According to an emergency petition filed by Air Force 1st Lt. Michelle Angeles, Family Court Judge William Potter applied a double standard when he ruled the boy must live with his father in Texas until she returns. “Michelle could only infer the double standard stemmed from her being married to another woman,” according to the document. The child flew to Texas on Saturday when the high court declined to intervene on an emergency...

America and its coalition partners executing air strikes in Iraq and Syria currently enjoy total dominance in the skies over the so-called Islamic State. That may soon change. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based monitoring group which maintains contacts with an extensive network of sources on the ground in Iraq and Syria, contends that ISIS fighters recently took control of three MiG fighter jets. What’s more, ISIS plans on using them. The SOHR report also claims that the group has the support of defected former Iraqi military officers which are training ISIS fighters on how to fly...

Firearms Expert / Air Force Veteran convicted of embezzlement / manufacturing and dealing firearms speaks out days before his Oct. 9 sentencing. A Congressional inquiry has been opened into the Air Force Office of Special Investigation’s mishandling of the case. The existence of a separate Air Force Inspector General investigation into the lead investigator’s tactics was withheld from both judge and jury during the trial, a direct violation of the law. The Sig Sauer Academy director was slated to be the star witness for the defense but was prevented from testifying by a slick prosecutorial trick. EXCLUSIVE STORY: http://benswann.com/exclusive-air-force-veteran-and-firearms-expert-convicted-of-manufacturing-weapons-speaks-out/

Watch this inspiring new Air Force commercial, which was published barely three weeks ago. It features four presidents, with excerpts of uplifting speeches about this crucial branch of America’s military. However, there’s one very recent commander-in-chief who’s not in this new 30-second commercial. Can you guess which one? This apparent ommission could be intentional or not. Or, it could be a slight. Or, perhaps, the Air Force couldn’t find anything moving this president has said about the military, in this case the Air Force. Which do you think it is?

For almost two years, an unmanned space plane bearing a remarkable resemblance to NASA’s space shuttle has circled the Earth, performing a top-secret mission. It’s called the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle — but that’s pretty much all we know for certain. Officially, the only role the Pentagon acknowledges is that the space plane is used to conduct experiments on new technologies. Theories about its mission have ranged from an orbiting space bomber to an anti-satellite weapon. The truth, however, is likely much more obvious: According to intelligence experts and satellite watchers who have closely monitored its orbit, the X-37B is...

An A-10 Thunderbolt II banks after a strafing run on Aug. 21, 2014, during the Red Flag-Alaska 14-3 exercise at the Yukon Training Area, Alaska. Months after staving off a trip to the boneyard, the embattled A-10 Thunderbolt II is headed to the Middle East where it could be used to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. An Indiana Air National Guard unit that flies the Cold War-era gunships, known as Warthogs, is planning to deploy about 300 airmen and an unknown number of its aircraft to the U.S. Central Command region early next month, says a Sept. 17...

One of the F-22 Raptor fighter jets that went on the fleet’s first ever combat mission in Syria carried an American flag into battle, according to a mid-air photograph snapped of the plane just after the mission. The photo was taken from an Air Force refueling plane as the next generation F-22 filled its tanks after its mission to strike a single Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) target in Syria – a mission the Air Force said was a “success.” A folded American flag can be seen in the cockpit, in front of the pilot, as reported by...

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on August 12, 2014. It was his first official visit to the Russian Federation as President. And Vladimir Putin was the first leader to invite him for a visit outside the Arab world since his swearing-in as head of state. The agenda included introduction to a selection of Russian military hardware for sale. (1) The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the field of arms exports to Egypt in addition to studying the establishment of a logistics center Masri on the Black...

Christopher Harress, International Business Times September 23, 2014A-10 Warthog in Afghanistan upload.wikimedia.org As the U.S. begins bombing ISIS targets in Syria with a campaign of airstrikes that started Monday, a venerable airplane that was almost sent to the scrapyard joins the fight. The Pentagon will send a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and up to 300 airmen to the Middle East in early October, to help in the conflict against the Islamic State group, the Indiana National Guard said. The deployment of the 40-year-old aircraft comes just four months after it was controversially saved from defense cuts by Congress, whose rationale...

Danvers-based CyPhy Works, a maker of flying robots led by iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner, said today that it was awarded a contract by the U. S. Air Force for a new miniature drone that could help improve search-and-rescue operations. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Funded under the Department of Defense's Rapid Innovation Fund, CyPhy Works' Extreme Access Pocket Flyer — which can fit into the cargo pants of a military member and weighs 2.3 ounces — will focus on the remote inspection of small passageways and tunnels that are often blocked by debris and rubble. The drone...

The Stephen Losey (Air Force Times) reports (see also the American Humanist Association’s letter to the Air Force Inspector General): An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada was denied reenlistment last month for refusing to take an oath containing “so help me God,” the American Humanist Association said Thursday…. Air Force Instruction 36-2606 spells out the active-duty oath of enlistment, which all airmen must take when they enlist or reenlist and ends with “so help me God.” The old version of that AFI included an exception: “Note: Airmen may omit the words ‘so help me God,’ if...

The US Air Force has told a sergeant he will have to leave the military unless he agrees to take an oath with the phrase "so help me God," officials said Tuesday. In the latest religious controversy to roil the air force, the atheist airman last month was denied his request to re-enlist because of his refusal to swear to God -- and he is now poised to take the military to court, his lawyer said.

A year after an airman at Maxwell Air Force Base was allowed to take an oath without saying "so help me God," the Air Force has quietly reversed course and once again made the phrase mandatory."Reciting 'So help me God' in the reenlistment and commissioning oaths is a statutory requirement under Title 10 U.S.C. §502," Air Force spokesperson Rose Richeson told Military.com, adding that Air Force Instruction on the oath is consistent with the language mandated in the law."Airmen are no longer authorized to omit the words 'So help me God'," she said.The issue first came up last year when...

US Air Force pens A-10 maintenance deal with Korean Air By: Dan Parsons Washington DC Source: Flightglobal.com This story is sourced from Flightglobal.com With top officers still calling for the aircraft’s retirement as a cost-saving measure, the US Air Force has announced a major potential investment in depot maintenance for the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt.The air force on 9 September announced a $46 million contract award to Korean Air Lines Co. (KAL) for depot-level maintenance and repair of A-10s, commonly called Warthogs, stationed Osan Air Base, South Korea. The work will be performed at KAL’s facility in Seoul with an expected...

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