During a stop at Manas Air Base, Rice spoke to airmen of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing and French and Spanish troops, thanking them for the way they “work together as a coalition—the way it should be.” Rice noted that the US has “strong allies in this fight,” which she said “is not an American fight but rather a fight of free peoples.” Her remarks struck home with SSgt. Sarah Byron-Smith, a 376th medic, who said, “I felt as though she, even at her level of power, had the right sight picture and knew what we were here to do.”
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
