Dominican air force pilots, radar controllers, and officials visited Air Forces Southern’s combined air and space operations center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., along with the 309th Fighter Squadron and 607th Air Control Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, also in Arizona. The Dominicans recently acquired A-29B Super Tucano light attack aircraft and a ground-based radar surveillance network. They are also working to develop a command and control system to help them coordinate intercepting narcotics traffickers in Dominican airspace. The USAF airmen demonstrated live ground-control intercept procedures, flying Dominican officers in two-seat F-16Ds. They also provided a tour of the CAOC. “This visit provides an excellent opportunity for the [Dominicans] to leverage our lessons learned,” said Lt. Col. Edward Boxx of the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South. (Davis-Monthan report by Capt. Sarah Schwennesen)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
