The Air Force has made four primary changes to its physical fitness program based on the decisions that came out of the Corona Top leadership summit earlier this month at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Lt. Gen. Richard Newton, USAF’s point man for personnel issues, and CMSAF Rodney McKinley told reporters June 10 at the Pentagon. First, as we have already reported, physical fitness tests will occur twice a year instead of once to help solidify a fitter culture across the service. “We don’t want airmen just trying to pass the test once a year,” McKinley said. Second, the tests will now be administered by a “fitness assessment cell” comprising doctors and civilians trained for the task, they said. This is designed to increase standardization and objectivity and relieve the workload on individual unit leadership. Third, component weighting and scoring systems have been altered based on health-fitness standards, with changes to aerobic and muscle-fitness standards, they said. Last, airmen will receive incentives for incremental improvements in performance, McKinley said. Last year’s Air Force Audit Agency report finding that the service’s fitness program could be improved was the catalyst that led to the changes. A fitness program review team assembled in January that consisted of McKinley, Air Staff officials, fitness experts, and others, came up with the new program.
General Atomics, the maker of one of the Air Force’s first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, has ambitious plans for its family of semi-autonomous drones beyond the FQ-42, including a flying-wing aircraft capable of carrying out both reconnaissance and strike missions. Meanwhile, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced a new program to…