Airmen with the Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Fighter Wing in Springfield are upgrading the radios in 160 Air Guard F-16 Block 30 airplanes so that the pilots of these Vipers will have the connectivity to communicate beyond line of sight. That’ll be a key capability in places like Afghanistan where mountainous terrain can make communication difficult if limited to line-of-sight transmissions. The BLOS upgrade will enable troops on the ground to “call the airplane directly” and “get real-time help” from the F-16s, said SMSgt. Phil Bennett, the project manager. The wing’s goal is to complete upgrades to 90 F-16s by the end of the fiscal year. Springfield lost its F-16 training mission as part of BRAC 2005 and is transitioning to new missions that will include operating MQ-1 Predator remotely piloted aircraft in combat zones. (Springfield report by SrA. Amy Adducchio)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
