Escorted by F-16s and F-22s, B-1 bombers from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., flew a 10-hour strike sortie against heavily defended practice targets on the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. “The objective of this operation was to validate the long-range strike capability of the B-1s as well as the F-22’s and F-16’s ability to escort them into an anti-access target area,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Kunkel, commander of the 90th Fighter Squadron, the F-22 unit at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, that participated in the US Strategic Command drill on April 4. Pitted against an E-3 AWACS and “blue air” F-16s operating from Elmendorf-Richardson to the south of the complex, the escorting F-16 and F-22 package lifted off from Eielson Air Force Base west of the complex, preparing a path for the B-1s. This operation marked the F-22’s first participation in a large-scale exercise while equipped with the new Increment 3.1 software upgrade. The F-16s came from Eielson and Misawa AB, Japan. (Elmendorf-Richardson report by Capt. Ashley Connor)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.