The Air Force’s second CV-22 Osprey has arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., two months earlier than the contract due date. A third Osprey will join No. 2 and No. 1—now undergoing electromagnetic testing at NAS Patuxent River, Md.,—at Edwards in February. The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center unit at Edwards plans to use the first three Ospreys to conduct operational utility evaluations next summer. If the Ospreys check out OK, USAF officials said they would send them to Kirtland AFB, N.M., to begin training operations next fall. They expect the initial operational test and evaluation phase to commence in fall 2007.
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.