China and Russia have noticed an increase in USAF bomber missions in the Indo-Pacific, and they are starting to respond in their own ways, the top USAF officer in the region said. The Air Force in April stopped permanently basing bombers at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and started deploying short-term “dynamic force employment” task forces of bombers in the region on short notice. Since the shift to dynamic force employment, “We’ve actually flown more of the bomber-type missions than we did in the last nine months of the continuous bomber presence,” Pacific Air Forces boss Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told reporters Nov. 18 in a virtual roundtable. As a result, USAF is seeing more Russian and Chinese intercepts in the region.

Moody Air Force Base, Ga., will no longer train Afghan pilots to fly the A-29. Instead, Afghan instructor pilots in Afghanistan will take over training, with that schoolhouse expected to be fully operational by April. Over the last five years, more than 30 student pilots and 70 maintenance technicians were trained at Moody. The base's 81st Fighter Squadron, a geographically separated unit assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing, oversaw initial training for A-29 aircrews, who have gone on to become the foundation of the nascent Afghan Air Force. “The 81st truly built this program from the ground up—developing both the (tactics, techniques, and procedures) and the syllabus, and then delivering full-spectrum training that not only produced combat-ready attack pilots, but also a mindset that prevents civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible,” said Kelli L. Seybolt, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for international affairs, in a Moody release.

USAF is interested in information about “commercially available wearable technologies” that can allow it to monitor service members’ “biometric data”—such as changes in heart rate and oxygen levels—to help it detect COVID-19 early, according to a Nov. 10 request for information published by Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. The data can be used to flag cases of the new coronavirus disease early, potentially sickened troops can be alerted to the medical danger they might be in, and commanders can use the information to make “personnel and unit readiness decisions,” the RFI states.

The U.S. is looking to piece together military and commercial data on orbital traffic and potential threats for a better idea of what’s hanging out in space. To get there, federal agencies and companies need to get over a basic hurdle: trust. In the beginning, the government wants to take over the work of sending conjunction data messages—information about objects passing near each other in space—for civil and commercial groups. The Defense Department will handle that mission with its own military-grade sensors at first, then consider how to add in data from commercial companies and academic institutions as well, said Mark B. Daley, deputy for operations in the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller on Nov. 18 directed the top civilian leader of special operations report directly to him instead of the previous bureaucratic chain of command. The move, which specifically states the assistant secretary of defense for low intensity conflict will report to the Defense Secretary instead of to the under secretary of defense for policy, means SOCOM will now be on equal footing with the military services for the first time, Miller said during a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C. “This reform will immediately improve agility to the department and to the command, and will enable us to streamline information flow, enhance decision making, and will more adaptly and adeptly support our commanders and their superb Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines,” Miller said.

A petition on WhiteHouse.gov is looking to get retired Air Force Col. Gail S. “Hal” Halvorsen—a 100-year-old veteran who flew the C-47 and C-54 aircraft in Germany during the Berlin Airlift—the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Halvorsen is often referred to as the “Candy Bomber,” because he used to attach candy to parachutes constructed from handkerchiefs and string and drop them from his C-54 to try to bring cheer to the children below. “Anyone who believes in freedom and the power of good to triumph over tyranny will join me in making the case for Gail Halvorsen, an incredible Airman and an inspiration for us all,” Air Force Association President and retired USAF Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright said.

Two Air Force Reservists from the 700th Airlift Squadron got married on the back of a C-130 Hercules on the flight line at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., on Nov. 10, according to a 94th Airlift Wing release. “I think when he brought up the idea of us getting married in the back of the plane, he threw it out there as a joke,” said 1st Lt. Lyndsy Harrison, a navigator, in the release. “But when I approved and was just as stoked about it as he was, we didn’t want to do it anywhere else.”

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.