SrA. Aaron T. Feliciano, an? MQ-9 avionics systems journeyman? with the 849th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, at Holloman AFB, N. M., is one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2014. Feliciano was instrumental in modernizing the 49th Wing’s MQ-9 fleet by successfully upgrading 13 MQ-9s in five days, increasing the combat mission readiness of 340 aircrews. He led a five-person RPA safety modernization team that upgraded 11 aircraft and reduced processing time from 90 days to less than two weeks with a 100 percent maintenance quality assurance rating. As the avionics section trainer, he certified 99 tasks, trained 11 airmen, and raised the section’s qualifications by 35 percent. He successfully completed three college classes and seven College Level Examination Program exams with a 4.0 GPA, earning his Community College of the Air Force avionics systems degree. Feliciano also remissioned a MQ-9 training sortie supporting the recovery of an injured German air force airman stranded in the New Mexico desert.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.