Air Force Special Operations Command activated the Special Tactics Training Squadron June 1 at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The newly designated unit was formerly the Advanced Skills Training Flight under the base’s 720th Operations Support Squadron. The new training squadron, which currently has about 56 instructors, will now fall under the 720th Special Tactics Group until October, when it moves under the Air Force Special Operations Training Center, which will stand up then. The STTS performs the final phase of training for combat controllers and special tactics officers before they depart for operational special tactics squadrons. The unit’s scope is expected to grow. For example, it will train more special operations weather airmen as that career field expands. (Hurlburt report by 1st Lt. Amy Cooper)
As Lockheed Martin prepares to release the first F-35 Block 4 software updates this summer, the company and the Joint Program Office are already well into analyses that will decide what will comprise Block 5 and later upgrades, Lockheed’s F-35 program manager said. For now though, some of the new…