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)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.