Free Republic

With the size of the F-22 stealth fighter force capped, U.S. Air Force officials are going to muscle up the service’s air dominance force via Air National Guard F-15C Golden Eagles upgraded with advanced, long-range radars. Because of the larger size of the Boeing F-15s’ radar and the aircraft’s greater flight endurance, they also will serve as “stand-in” electronic warfare jamming and attack aircraft as part of the Air Force’s composite air dominance force that also includes stealthy Lockheed Martin F-22s stationed at Langley AFB, Va. Each fighter type will shoulder 50% of the air dominance mission now that the...

Two Block 40 F-16 Fighting Falcons set out from Hill Air Force Base on April 27 for a new home. They were reassigned to the South Dakota Air National Guard at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls. The F-16s are the first of 24 jets currently assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing scheduled to be transferred or retired from the base in fiscal year 2010 to comply with the Air Force's combat air force restructure plan announced last June. Under the Air Force plan a total of 259 aircraft will be retired including 138 F-16s, 112 F-15 Eagles and nine...

The Air National Guard is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the battle over whether to terminate or keep building the 5th generation F-22 fighter. In a June 19 letter to Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt advocates the purchase of F-22 fighters to secure the Guard's homeland defense mission in the future. According to Wyatt the ANG is facing a serious risk of becoming unable to fulfill the Nations highest strategic priority: defending the Homeland. Wyatts concern is well founded. Within about eight years 80 percent of the ANG's F-16 inventory,...

A team of four pilots from the Idaho Air National Guard’s 190th Fighter Squadron took top honors last week in the biennial “Hawgsmoke” competition, earning bragging rights as the best ground attack and target destruction. The team placed first out of 14 four-pilot air crews from U.S. Air Force installations over the world. All of the teams fly the A-10 ground-attack aircraft, also known as the “Warthog.” --- SNIP --- "This win validates the training we do here in Idaho, the great men and women in our ranks and some of the world’s best aircraft,” he said in a press...

US Air National Guard to trial Beechcraft AT-6 for counter-insurgency By Stephen Trimble The US Air National Guard has received special funds to stage a demonstration of the turboprop-powered Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 for the domestic security and counter-insurgency mission. Kansas-based Senator Sam Brownback earmarked $3 million for the ANG to demonstrate the capabilities of the AT-6, which is assembled in Wichita, Kansas. The AT-6 is among at least four contenders to fill an emerging role in US and foreign airborne inventories for a dedicated counter-insurgency aircraft. The US Air Force is conducting a competition for such an aircraft on behalf...

SPANGDAHLEM, Germany – Tracking and pursuing enemy forces on the ground should be easier for A-10 pilots with the 81st Fighter Squadron when they go downrange early next year. By the time they deploy, leaders hope the unit’s 18 aircraft will be outfitted with new targeting systems. Three already have been installed with six more on the way. The technology allows pilots to deploy laser-guided munitions, pursue moving targets at night with infrared imaging and stabilize points on the ground while maneuvering. The information is routed from a targeting pod attached under the wing to a monitor in the one-man...

Just saw a military aircraft headed for Midway. 4 engine prop driven, about the size of a 737. Can anyone send me mfg/model/age ID on it?

F-16s deployed from the Oklahoma Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Wing were involved in a strike on terrorist training camp Saturday, the U.S. Air Force reported Tuesday. The jet attack destroyed an al-Qaeda training camp southwest of Baghdad, the Air Force says in a press release. The 138th Fighter Wing is based in Tulsa. About 190 people from the unit were sent to Iraq in June. In a coordinated attack, Air Force joint air terminal controllers on the ground cleared four F-16s to drop 500-pound and 1,000-pound guided bombs on the terror complex near Karbala, the release says. The precision...

Two Coast Guard helicopters and a cutter are racing to an area 46 miles off the northern Oregon Coast for an Oregon Air National Guard F-15 that went into the sea about 1:30 this afternoon. There was only a pilot on board during a training mission. The Coast Guard said a parachute was seen. The F-15 was from the Air Guard's Portland base.

They are cops, firefighters, doctors, lawyers, blue-collar and white-collar. They're New Yorkers from all walks of life who share a commitment to serving America. And this week they were deploying to Afghanistan to conduct search-and-rescue missions as members of the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing. Headquartered at Gabreski ANG Base in Westhampton Beach, L.I., these citizen-airmen answer the call stateside in peacetime, along the Eastern Seaboard, northward to Newfoundland and south to Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, where their copters saved 161 people. In war, they fly to the rescue of troops on the ground, including those wounded on...

4/24/2007 - MOFFETT AIR FIELD, Calif. (AFNEWS) -- Air National Guardsmen here worked with an aircraft that was vastly different from the MC-130P Combat Shadow tankers, HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and other Air Force aircraft they are accustomed to. Airmen from the 129th Rescue Wing were deploying to Afghanistan and needed aircraft to transport HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters. Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have kept C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy aircraft extremely busy, and the high operations tempo of these aircraft led to the scheduling of contracted cargo airlift, said Senior Master Sgt. Anthony Przymus, the...

Traitors of Record: The Record of the New York TimesBy Fedora “. . .the most untrustworthy paper in the United States. . .” --President Dwight Eisenhower, referring to the New York TimesIntroductionLast week Senator John Cornyn criticized the New York Times for endangering national security with a James Risen story on NSA surveillance timed to coincide with a vote on the Patriot Act and, incidentally, with the release of a book by Risen. A review of the record illustrates that endangering national security through irresponsible leaks is nothing new for the New York Times. Some particularly outrageous examples are worth...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Battling recruiting and retention shortfalls among its part-time soldiers, the Army is launching a new experimental policy approving the acceptance of not-so-young recruits into the ranks of the Army National Guard and Reserve. Dubbed a three-year “test,” the new policy will bump up the maximum age for new enlistments from 34 years to 39 years, according to an Army announcement. The policy applies to both men and women joining the military for the first time. The older recruits will be eligible for the same enlistment bonuses and other incentives as younger volunteers, according to the announcement. Those...

OIL CITY -- Cheers and tears greeted the returning soldiers of Battery C, 1st Battalion, 107th Field Artillery of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Oil City Thursday. The unit spent nearly 13 months on a tour of duty in Iraq. A crowd estimated at close to 1,000 lined State Street on Oil City's south side, braving frigid temperatures for hours waiting for the buses to bring the troops back home. Mixed in with the crowd were the families of Sgt. David Kradel, Spc. Rovert McIntyre and Spc. Thomas Fuller, three Titusville-area soldiers returning home from deployment. McIntyre, a 16-year...

Hoaxes Propped Up CBS's Fraudulent Memos (Part III) Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minutes Hit Piece on President Bush's ANG Record based on Left-Wing Media Hoaxes. By Col. John H. Wambough, Jr. USAF (Ret.) October 31, 2004 380 Tons of RDX and HMX Missing Hoax Sugarcoated Officer Efficiency Report Hoax Left-Wing Media (LWM) treachery, deception and distortion laid a solid foundation for Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minute fabricated story and fraudulent memos. Thousands of communications misled the American people about George W. Bush's (GWB's) service in the Air National Guard (ANG). LWM fraudulently orchestrated so many hoaxes on President Bush's Air...

Airmen use GBU-38 in combat by Capt. Mae-Li Allison379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 10/4/2004 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- During one particular night shift recently, a team primarily composed of Air National Guardsmen conducted the first successful drop of a GBU-38 bomb in combat. The majority of the people connected to the effort came from the Alabama Air National Guard and were supplemented by Airmen from Illinois and Wisconsin. They worked together to put two 500-pound bombs on target and into the history books, officials said. Two F-16 Fighting Falcons performed a simultaneous GBU-38 release on the same target in central Iraq....

A retired National Guard officer now living in East Tennessee is weighing into the debate over President Bush's service record. Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell says the man who swore then-Lieutenant George Bush into the Air National Guard, is rising to the President's defense from his Blount County home. Retired Colonel Ed Morrisey served in the Air National Guard and is familiar with the President's record since the beginning of his service. Opposite a portrayal of a soldier not performing his duty he describes a flyer, near the top of his class. Retired Colonel Morrisey has trained, developed and commanded lots...

"Why would a physical exam present a problem for 1st Lt. Bush? A little-know fact reported in the London Times and the New York Post on June 18, 2000 gives a powerful clue. In April 1972 – the same month that Bush "gave up" flying – all the overseas and stateside military services began subjecting a small random sample in their ranks to substance abuse testing for alcohol and drugs. The Pentagon had announced its intention to do so initially back on December 31, 1969. If Bush reported for his scheduled physical in August 1972, he could have been subject...

Fox and Freiends now

Dean's former campaign Manager just mentioned a "theory" he heard that the documents were actually made in 1972, but were later scanned, changing the font. Can you believe how desperate the liberals are? Did it also change the terminology from Air Force to Army? Did it also change the signature? Did it also change the retirement date for General Staudt? They will never concede the documents are forgeries. This will live on in liberal mythology forever. Like the October Surprise.