The team of 
Boeing-Bell said Monday it had delivered the Air Force’s first production CV-22 Osprey. Air Force Special Operations Command will use the CV-22 for long-range special operations, contingency operations, and evacuations, as well as search and rescue operations. The current program calls for AFSOC to field 50 CV-22s. The Osprey will finish developmental testing and follow-on testing at Edwards AFB, Calif. AFSOC expects to achieve initial operational capability in 2009.
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.