Airmen of the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Fighter Wing, in Fargo, are preparing to give up their F-16s and participate with Grand Forks AFB, N.D., on a new mission flying Predator UAVs. To assuage nervous members, reports the Associated Press news service, Guard officials recently brought in two speakers—corporate consultant and trainer Dale Henry and CMSgt. Richard Smith, ANG’s command chief, who talked about the upcoming switch. The Happy Hooligans have flown F-16 Vipers since 1990, dating its history to the F-51 in 1947.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…