Austin Bay and I have a piece today in the Wall Street Journal on Iraq's air force and air defense needs. You can read it here.

Aviation Week reports on the new, improved Iraqi Air Force: [T]he order of battle for the Iraqi Air Force now includes three [Cessna] Caravans for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR], three armed Caravans, two Hawker/Beechcraft King Air light transports and six King Airs 350s also for ISR. Fourteen planes?

Here in Istanbul we've just been told that minutes ago President Barack Obama arrived in Baghdad. Here's the pool report from Richard Wolf of "USA Today": Air Force One landed at Baghdad Intl Airport at 4:42. Near the end of the flight, Gibbs gaggled. He said the choice of Iraq rather than Afghanistan was made for three reasons -- proximity to Turkey, the need to consult with Iraqi offic...

Britain must resist 'squandering' the strength of its air force by allowing Afghanistan to be a 'prison for our thinking' about overhauling the armed forces, says Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton

The US Air Force blogging community is tiny, so I thought I'd add something I've noticed with the USAF regarding Haiti. I am not nor will ever attempt to be an expert in the US Air Force, hell I'm fairly weak at naval aviation which I actually do study. I do however know a lot about the US Air Force budget, which only slightly relates to this discussion. But first, something else. T...

This is a guest post by Sharon Dolev Please allow me to steal a few minutes of your time, and share my feelings. In the last few days, a small group has been demonstrating in the entrance of an Air Force base in Tel Aviv. The reason we stand there is that this is the place most air force fighters

Apparently, it's now cool to ask why the country needs an independent Air Force. Last week, I traveled to the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama to participate on a panel about the future of air power. I had been invited because of an article I wrote several years ago titled "Abolish the Air Force". Also on the panel were two gentlemen from RAND who...

Air Force Times has an interesting story. There are a ton of things to think about in what is otherwise a very short news report. An unmanned aerial vehicle crashed Sunday in Iraq, according to the Air Force. The crash of the MQ-1 Predator, flown out of Joint Base Balad, occurred at 4:30 p.m. after an Air National Guard crew lost communications with the remote-controlled plane. The wreckage was di...

I have been closely following the process of building and equipping the Iraqi security forces (ISF). One of the areas I am most interested in is the future of the Iraqi air force and air defense capabilities. The challenges facing Iraq in this particular area are huge for several reasons. The most important reason is the large cost in both time and money that are required to equip, train and

During my trip to Washington DC I was able to meet these folks and experience this video. The way the Navy is presented is interesting. I have previously discussed this as a use and learn approach to social media. The Air Force doesn't know where this is going, but they know enough to know they need to be doing it. That is something... I think the Air Force approach is smart. Get the discussi...