Gen. Howie Chandler last week formally became the vice chief of staff of the Air Force. He assumed USAF’s No. 2 uniformed post after an almost two-year stint as commander of Pacific Air Forces. Chandler succeeds Gen. William Fraser who held the vice chief’s office since last October and has received Senate confirmation to be the next Air Combat Command head. Chandler is a 1974 graduate of the US Air Force Academy. He is a command pilot with more than 3,900 flying hours, mostly in fighter aircraft. Late last month, Chandler’s replacement, Gen. Gary North, assumed command at PACAF. (SAF/PA release)
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.