Air Force

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Military's Coffee Alternative: Shocks to the Brain?

Air Force testing electric stimulation for drone operators

(Newser) - When you're spending hours tracking the activity of spy drones, it can be hard to stay alert, even if you've got Red Bull. Now, the military is testing a caffeine alternative, and it involves the unlikely tactic of shocking drone operators' brains, the Boston Globe reports. The results...

34 Air Force Nuke Officers Cheated on Exam

Cheating scandal is not to be confused with the drug scandal

(Newser) - Drug use , cheating on a big exam via phone texts—the allegations sound like run-of-the-mill stuff for your typical high school. Except that in this case, the accused are Air Force officers charged with watching the nation's nuclear arsenal. In the latest round of bad news for the...

Nuclear Launch Officers Tied to Narcotics Probe

In the latest in a string of embarrassments for Air Force unit

(Newser) - America got yet another reason to worry about the men who have their fingers on the nuclear button yesterday, when two Air Force ICBM launch officers were suspended and named as targets of an illegal narcotics investigation. The two men, part of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force...

Air Force Nuke Chief Fired for Being Drunken 'Boor'

Michael Carey insulted hosts, cozied up to 'suspicious women' in Russia

(Newser) - When the Air Force fired Maj. Gen. Michael Carey in October, it said only that it was for "personal misbehavior." Now we know what that means. Carey essentially appears to have made a drunken spectacle of himself during a three-day official trip to Moscow in July, insulting his...

Sleek New US Drone Flies Over Area 51
Sleek New Drone
Flies Over Area 51
Dec 7, 2013 10:42 AM CST

Sleek New Drone Flies Over Area 51

The RQ-180 is designed to slip into 'contested environments'

(Newser) - The Air Force is testing a new stealth drone at Area 51 that's designed to penetrate "contested" areas—in other words, countries where the US is not at all welcome, Aviation Week reports. Dubbed the RQ-180, the unmanned Northrop Grumman plane is thought to have better stealth design...

'God' Now Optional in Air Force Oath

Cadets can skip it if they'd like

(Newser) - An oath of honor uttered by Air Force cadets might be a little less godly from here on out. The service says cadets now have the option to skip the last phrase, "So help me God," reports the Air Force Times . The move comes in response to a...

Nuke Guards Caught Napping With Door Open

4 officers in charge of nuclear missile launch keys twice breached security protocols

(Newser) - It's reassuring to know the people entrusted with the launch keys to our nuclear missiles are at least well rested—if not well secured. US Air Force officers in charge of these keys have been caught twice this year napping while leaving the blast door to their underground launch...

Air Force Fires General in Charge of ICBMs

Michael Carey out for unspecified behavior

(Newser) - The Air Force said today it fired the two-star general from command of its nuclear missiles in response to an investigation into alleged personal misbehavior. It was the second sacking this week of a senior commander of nuclear forces. Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was removed from command of the 20th...

Air Force Can't Convince Anyone to Pilot Drones

It's mostly a dull job

(Newser) - It turns out, killing people by remote control is an unpopular profession. The Air Force is having trouble recruiting new drone pilots, a new Brookings Institute report reveals, and the ones it already has quit at three times the rate of its manned pilots. The problem: It's a boring...

17 Lose Authority to Launch Nukes

Air Force sidelines unprecedented number of officers

(Newser) - The AP today has a fascinating exclusive about ineptitude among the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base. While the skills of some Air Force officers at a North Dakota base may not seem like something that would have major implications at first blush, know this: These officers have...

Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention Chief Loses Job

After being charged with ... sexual assault

(Newser) - The first rule of preventing sexual assault: don't sexually assault people. That's some free advice for the head of the US Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, who was removed from his post today after being charged with sexual battery, NBC reports. Lt. Col. Jeff...

Air Force Pulls Data on Drone Strikes From Website

'Air Force Times' says numbers were removed last month

(Newser) - With all this talk of drones lately, it might be interesting to know just how many airstrikes the military is unleashing with them in Afghanistan. The Air Force Times would love to tell you, and it should be able to tell you, because the Air Force makes the info public...

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist
 USAF Recruit: 
 I Was Supposed 
 to Report Rape 
 to My Rapist 
LACKLAND SEX ASSAULT SCANDAL
Feb 27, 2013 8:46 AM CST

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist

Virginia Messick speaks about attack by her superior as scandal breaks open

(Newser) - Soon after Virginia Messick reported to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in March 2011, her training instructor, Staff Sgt. Luis Walker , started giving her special treatment. One day, while she was in his office using his computer—a rule violation that he allowed—he started groping her. Though...

Drone Pilots Get Same Stress as Combat Pilots

Pentagon study sees evidence PTSD, even from afar

(Newser) - This won't go over well with vets who think drone pilots don't deserve the same kind of medal as war-zone troops: A Pentagon study finds that those who operate drones from afar suffer combat-related stress at the same rate as pilots who fly into battle themselves, reports the...

Air Force's Secret Robot Space Plane Blasts Off

For an unknown mission

(Newser) - Who says America doesn't have a space program anymore? Sure the shuttle's gone, but the military is keeping the dream alive—and classified. The Air Force today launched its top-secret unmanned space shuttle alternative into orbit on a mysterious mission, the AP reports. The vessel, dubbed the X-37B,...

30 Cadets Injured in All-Out 'Brawl'

Sergeant-tossing ritual leaves 6 hospitalized

(Newser) - An Air Force ritual devolved into an all-out melee last week that left 30 cadets injured and six hospitalized—with concussions, cuts, and an arm bite, NBC News reports. It was all part of the unauthorized "First Shirt/First Snow" ritual, in which cadets toss a sergeant into a snow...

Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes
 Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes 
Aug 15, 2012 2:01 PM CDT

Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes

Unmanned Air Force WaveRider plunges into Pacific

(Newser) - It was supposed to be a step toward ultra-quick military strikes and maybe even passenger planes that could zip from coast to coast in under an hour . Instead, an unmanned hypersonic test craft crashed into the Pacific today shortly after being released from a B-52 bomber, reports AP . The Air...

Sex Probe Balloons to 38 Victims at Air Force Base

Instructors may have preyed on recruits at basic training

(Newser) - A sex assault and harassment probe at a Texas Air Force base has been expanded to 15 instructors, and the number of possible victims is now up to 38. "There may be others as we continue the investigation" at the Lackland base in San Antonio, said an Air Force...

Air Force Osprey Crash Injures 5

Airmen hospitalized after latest Osprey incident

(Newser) - An Air Force CV-22 Osprey has crashed during a routine training mission in Florida, injuring all five crew members, according to officials. The five airmen were hospitalized and the extent of their injuries was not disclosed, reports CNN . It's not yet clear what caused the accident. The tilt-rotor aircraft,...

Panetta Limits F-22 Flights After Pilot Blackouts

He orders Air Force to take steps to protect fliers

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered the Air Force to take extra steps to protect F-22 pilots while officials investigate reports of dizziness and fainting spells in the cockpit. Panetta has ordered the service to keep all F-22 flights close enough to landing strips so that pilots will be able...

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