Officials 
at Beale AFB, Calif., activated the 306th Intelligence Squadron to train tactical systems operators for the MC-12W Project Liberty ISR aircraft. The unit, which falls under the 361st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group at Hurlburt Field, Fla., will instruct more than 150 airmen each year, according to an Oct. 16 Beale release. “We will take the combat experience we have already and use new experience to build a strong pool of ISR airmen,” said Lt. Col. Robb Rigtrup, the squadron’s commander. The unit stood up during a ceremony on Oct. 5. The squadron traces its heritage to the 6306th Reconnaissance Technical Flight that began as a photo-reconnaissance unit in 1953, according to the release. (Beale report by SrA. Shawn Nickel)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…