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People have tried to sneak onto Air National Guard (ANG) bases 13 different times so far since the start of 2021. ANG Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh told Air Force Magazine that, as of Friday, Feb. 19, the service has seen 13 attempted or successful infiltrations of their bases. Loh did not disclose the locations where the security breaches occurred, due to security concerns. Loh said nine of the incidents have occurred at “installation-control points” at the bases. “Most of them come in, they don’t realize that they’re coming on a base, that they’re supposed to stop, and they...

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Dan Rather is coming to your local movie theater. At least the story behind why he’s no longer at CBS is. In “Truth,” Robert Redford plays Rather. Cate Blanchett plays his CBS producer Mary Mapes. In 2004, Rather reported that President George W. Bush’s powerful father arranged to keep his son in the National Guard to prevent serving in Vietnam. The report caused such hoo-hah that a treasured 24-year anchorman lost his job. Dan: “I’ve read the script. It’s serious. People behind it do a good job. It’s two great actors. You couldn’t want for a better cast. Redford playing...

Matt DeHart, a former American soldier who sought asylum in Canada claiming torture by U.S. agents probing Anonymous hackers and WikiLeaks, was taken from his Ontario prison cell Sunday morning and delivered to U.S. agents at the border. Mr. DeHart, 30, was allowed to make a quick phone call en route to his parents, who are living in Toronto facing their own removal order, said his father, Paul. “He was peaceful and in good health,” Paul DeHart said in an interview but the family remains deeply worried. “We are concerned about Matt’s safety as he transits,” he said. “We said...

Obama to land at threatened baseBy STEPHANIE GASKELL Updated: 7/31/12 10:13 PM EDT When President Barack Obama flies Air Force One to Mansfield, Ohio, for a campaign stop on Wednesday, he’ll be landing at a military base that could close under his proposed Pentagon spending cuts. That was news to his press secretary, Jay Carney, who said he’s “not aware of that particular issue.” Mansfield Air National Guard Base is home to the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard and the C-27J, a mid-size cargo transport plane. Obama’s budget request for the new fiscal year would cut...

Air Force leadership laid out Friday afternoon what units will lose missions and which ones will get new ones with the Air National Guard bearing the brunt of the drawdown. The Air Force will retire or reclassify aircraft in seven squadrons with four being Air National Guard units. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley announced the service will retire 286 aircraft over the next five years with 227 leaving the fleet in 2013. Read the exact details of what aircraft are going where and what squadrons will receive new missions over the next five years in the white paper issued by...

1st aerial kill of Desert Storm subject of motivation for Westfield's Air National Guard 104th Fighter Wing WESTFIELD – There is no easy way to explain the experience, the rush, of piloting an F-15 Eagle jet fighter, peacetime or in combat. “There is nothing else like it,” said Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Jon K. Kelk, credited with the first Iraqi MiG-29 aerial “kill” of Desert Storm in January 1991. “There is every emotion, every element of excitement, intrigue. In combat, multiply that ten times,” he explained Friday as he prepared to motivate members of the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s...

Shooting down enemy aircraft over American soil is an event U.S.-based alert pilots train for. They run exercise scenarios on a constant basis, preparing for that call to scramble. But all the dry runs in the world can't prepare a pilot for that moment when a live missile is released from the jet. That's why the 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth, Minn., is spending two weeks here working with the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group. "We came here to shoot missiles and drop live ordnance to be better prepared for our Air Sovereignty Alert mission," said Lt. Col. Reed Bowman,...

Airforce officials are keeping quiet about a commander with the Alabama Air National Guard who could possibly face charges following an investigation that he had received nearly $96,000 in unauthorized compensatory time and had regularly flown an F-16 on personal trips.The Montgomery Advertiser obtained a report via the Freedom of Information Act, in which an unamed wing commander of the 187th Fighter Wing, was ultimately found to have committed four violations of National Guard and Air Force regula­tions.

U.S. Air National Guard C-130H crews are being given increased situational awareness during airlift, airdrop and other operations by Northrop Grumman. The company said it had been given a $12.7 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract from the Defense Micro-Electronics Activity to integrate software and hardware that will enable real-time tactical information to be displayed in the C-130H cockpit and navigator station. The displays will provide information obtained from Joint Range Extension Applications Protocol and Situational Awareness Data Link communications, allowing the C-130 crew to not only see the theater tactical picture but also electronically identify its position to others within the...

The South Carolina Air National Guard recently returned from a combat deployment utilizing Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Sniper pods on the F-16 Fighting Falcon. This marks the first time Sniper pods have been used in combat by an Air National Guard unit. While in theater, the 169th Fighter Wing employed the Sniper pod’s non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR) capabilities, relaying high resolution streaming video for rapid coordination with ground troops. “The Sniper pod did exactly what we needed it to do,” said Brigadier General Scott Williams, Commander, 169th Fighter Wing, South Carolina Air National Guard. “For a pod that...

Raytheon will install a large, colour display in Lockheed Martin F-16 cockpits, a key enabler for future sensor upgrades. The US Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve selected Raytheon's 6 x 8in (15.2 x 20.3cm) centre pedestal display for a requirement to upgrade hundreds of F-16 Block 30s. Including spares, Raytheon believes the two services could order as many as 720 displays over the next six years. The potential for foreign sales is comparable or even greater, says Tom Lansing, the company's business development senior manager for customised engineering and depot support.

Raytheon Company has won a contract to upgrade the Center Display Unit (CDU) of U.S. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard F-16 aircraft. The initial contract value is $3.1 million for system integration and pre-production units. The contract includes options for production of up to 120 systems per year for five years. The Raytheon CDU will replace multiple analog flight instrument displays currently used in the F-16 cockpit with a single large-LCD color display. Advanced technology will provide pilots with new capabilities, including the ability to overlay data from both onboard and remote sensors on a digital moving map,...

The Raptor has landed. The first of 20 F-22 Raptor fighter jets that will be based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam touched down yesterday, bringing with it the start of a new chapter in Hawaii Air National Guard fighter history reaching back to 1946. The Territory of Hawaii Air National Guard was established that year, a year ahead of the official creation of the U.S. Air Force, officials said. Two of the stealthy fighters are expected to be in Hawaii for a dedication ceremony Friday. The aircraft, "tail" numbers 045 and 046, are about 7 years old and were receiving...

By backpedaling on a campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine Corps airbase from Okinawa, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may have nonetheless secured additional airborne cruise missile and tactical ballistic missile defenses for Japan. China is seen as the cruise missile threat since it has developed a new, faster, long-range weapon that can be launched from its Su-27MKK strike fighter fleet. North Korea has the greater fear factor, however, because of its suspected nuclear ballistic missile capability and its government’s erratic behavior and apparent aggressions, such as the alleged sinking of a South Korea warship. Okinawa is already home...

Villagers who suffer from the jet noise in the north end of town, and all those with sensitive ears only have to put up with the ruckus a little bit longer. The Dutch pilots who have been training at the Springfield-Beckley Airport with the 178th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard will move to Arizona soon after September 2010. The move was announced on Sunday, May 2, on the Web site F16.net and was confirmed this Tuesday by am Air National Guard spokesman. Soon after the Dutch joined American pilots already training at the airport five years ago,...

The Springfield Air National Guard Base will now be home to two long-term missions: a National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) mission, as well as a new MQ-1 mission. In addition, the SANG Base will receive an extension of its mission for the maintenance of F-16 aircrafts, which will be fully funded until 2011, as well as additional funding for the construction of new facilities for future missions. “I have been working diligently with the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard in an effort to secure new long-term, sustainable missions at the Springfield Air National Guard Base,” Austria...

The Royal Netherlands Air Force will soon resume F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot training here at Tucson International Airport after a five-year absence.Dutch pilots were the first in a long line of international students to ever train with the 162nd Fighter Wing. Starting in 1989, they were a mainstay program at the Arizona Air National Guard unit for 18 years until they moved to Springfield, Ohio, for a five-year agreement to train with the Ohio Air National Guard's 178th Fighter Wing. "We have a long and very successful history with the Dutch. We're looking forward to reestablishing our relationship with their...

Ever since early in the Korean War (1950-53), the United States has enjoyed a massive air superiority over every enemy we've fought. Those days may be coming to an end. "The Air Force won't be able to do all its assigned tasks as comprehensively as it once did, and will be aiming for simple sufficiency in areas where it's been accustomed to dominance," Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, said in a recent interview. Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute, a defense think tank, said, "This is akin to the head of the French air force saying...