The Game’s Afoot: Hyten Now for StratCom; Goldfein For Air Force Chief

The Game’s Afoot: Hyten Now for StratCom; Goldfein For Air Force Chief
The Game’s Afoot: Hyten Now for StratCom; Goldfein For Air Force Chief

COLORADO SPRINGS: Well, until a few hours ago most reporters and their Air Force sources thought Gen. John Hyten was a virtual lock for nomination as Air Force Chief Staff. Now, my best source on this stuff says the current vice chief, Gen. David Goldfein, is the likely successor to Gen. Mark Welsh. If selected…

AFSOC Rebuilds Air Breathing Fleet Under New CO, Lt. Gen. Heithold

AFSOC Rebuilds Air Breathing Fleet Under New CO, Lt. Gen. Heithold
AFSOC Rebuilds Air Breathing Fleet Under New CO, Lt. Gen. Heithold

Still in his first year as leader of Air Force Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold has lots of plans, but they no longer include replacing AFSOC’s U-28A manned surveillance aircraft with MC-12W Liberty spy planes. “There was discussion about moving to the Liberty birds,” Heithold told an audience at the Air Force Association…

Strategy, Not Just Sequester, Drives A-10 Cut: Air Force Chief Gen. Welsh

Strategy, Not Just Sequester, Drives A-10 Cut: Air Force Chief Gen. Welsh
Strategy, Not Just Sequester, Drives A-10 Cut: Air Force Chief Gen. Welsh

Budget cuts won’t make the Air Force give up any of its current missions, the service’s Chief of Staff promised today. But, Gen. Mark Welsh acknowledged, the cuts will force it to do those missions with different and perhaps not optimal aircraft. Yes, the famous A-10 “Warthog” is “the best at close air support” –…

Hawker Beechcraft Chairman Rebuffs Security Concerns Over Sale To Chinese: EXCLUSIVE

The proposed sale of bankrupt Hawker Beechcraft to a Chinese company will create no security problems for the US military, pledged Hawker chairman Bill Boisture in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense. If the potential $1.8 billion sale to Superior Aviation Beijing actually goes through — and at least one well-regarded industry observer, Richard Aboulafia,…

The Magnificent Seven Weapons: ‘Awesome On A Shoestring’

Everyone knows military technology projects take forever and cost billions to produce, right? Just look at the Air Force’s latest fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor. The Raptor’s initial requirement was written in 1981, with the objective of developing an air superiority fighter to counter the Soviet air threat. It was declared operational in December of…

US Intercepts Only 1 of 3 Drug Smugglers It Tracks, Says General

The Air Force’s MC-12 Liberty surveillance plane, in heavy use in Afghanistan, is one of the scarce assets Southern Command chief Gen. Doug Fraser hopes to see freed up for drug interdiction as the war winds down. The U.S. military command covering South America intercepts only about a third of the drug shipments and other…

‘Poor al Qaeda Has Lost At Least 10 of its top 20 leaders’

San Antonio: The Pentagon’s intelligence leader said today that the U.S. has tracked and killed half of al Qaeda’s top 20 leaders this year, leaving only one of the terrorist group’s original leaders alive. Al Qaeda operatives “feel besieged by the U.S,” said Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Mike Vickers. The persistent U.S counter terror efforts…