Test personnel at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., conducted the first drop of the Small Diameter Bomb from the internal weapons bay of an F-22A earlier this month, according to a Sept. 26 release. Maj. Jack Fischer, a test pilot with the 411th Flight Test Squadron, said the test “proved our predictions were modeled properly; the bomb came out exactly as it should have for the first test, so we’re right on track.” The Raptor will be able to carry eight SDBs, two advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. Fischer noted also that no other aircraft “can release a supersonic weapon out of an internal weapons bay,” but the “flow field and shock wave interactions present a very complex challenge.”
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.