Word: aires
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Air Force has always been the shiniest, most hardware-centric of the nation's military services. Whether it's the brooding bat-like B-2 bomber, the razor-sharp F-22 fighter, or the constellation of satellites that transmits everything from war plans to the GPS signal telling you where you are, the flyboys spare almost no expense in outfitting themselves with the state-of-the-art armament. This year, the Air Force is spending close to $65 billion - more than either the Army or Navy - developing new weapons. So at a time when politicians never tire of declaring their...
...That was essentially the verdict delivered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday, when he officially gave up on the Bush Administration's tortured quest to purchase flying gas stations to replace the current fleet of KC-135 tankers, which average 47 years old. "How incompetent can the Air Force be?" Danielle Brian, head of the Project on Government Oversight, a private watchdog group, wondered following Gates' announcement. "Buying a tanker really shouldn't be this complicated...
...been. The Air Force has repeatedly fumbled the $35 billion competition between aerospace giants Boeing and Northrop-Grumman to build 179 new tankers. After pressure from Senator John McCain, who said the Air Force's plan to lease tankers from Boeing was a waste of taxpayer money, the Air Force in 2004 scuttled those plans. Then the service decided to buy them from Northrop Grumman last February, only to have the deal derailed in June after government auditors concluded Boeing's charges of an unfair competition were justified...
...Boeing praised the decision ("it will best serve the war fighter") while Northrop grumbled, saying it was "extremely disappointed - especially on behalf of our men and women in uniform who will now be denied a critically needed new tanker for years." Meanwhile, the Air Force resigned itself to flying ancient airplanes even longer. "I don't care which tanker wins," Air Force General Arthur Lichte, a one-time tanker pilot who now heads the Air Mobility Command, sighed last week. "I just need a new tanker...
...This is a city with a fabulous richness and an almost unique integration of city and nature," says Rogerio Rocco, the former head of Brazil's environment-protection agency in Rio. "People pay to go on safari to see animals close up; we here have an open-air safari on a daily basis. It's priceless...