Mission briefings for aircrews may never be the same. The Air Force now can spread across the service a new base-level command and control tool to automate aircrew mission briefings, following a two-year effort by the Global Cyberspace Integration Center at Langley AFB, Va., and the Air Force Academy’s Institute for Information Technology Applications. The duo has released the Warfighter’s Edge, or WEdge, to the field. Capt. Larry van der Oord reports that this fully network-capable system is heads above a digital program called Briefing Room Interactive used by some units, because WEdge takes minimal training and is easy to use compared to the technically challenging and non-deployable BRI. Pat McAtee, GCIC WEdge program manager, said, “WEdge automates data to deliver the most relevant information in a user-friendly manner,” and it’s “easily deployable for combat operations.”
U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses continued a busy bomber task force deployment to Europe by participating in multiple drills with NATO partners last week, including simulated weapons targeting exercises and a live munitions drop in Finland.