The Air Force has shelled out about $400,000 for claims submitted by New Jersey residents affected by the fire started by a New Jersey Air National Guard F-16 on a May 15 training mission over the Warren Grove Gunnery Range. The Courier-Post reports also that the service still has more than 500 claims still pending. The Air Force acknowledged that a flare dropped by the F-16 was the culprit, but it is still investigating the incident. Members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation met with service officials on May 21 to demand “specific changes” following this latest in a string of incidents.
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.