Although there are no “concrete” requirements for the US Air Force in response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa, the capability is there if the need arises, said US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. Frank Gorenc on Monday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. “We developed a very robust ability to move patients” after more than a decade of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We weren’t focused on moving patients with Ebola, but in the end, the basic infrastructure is there. The expeditionary equipment we would use to set things up in an underdeveloped environment is there, so we stand ready to address some of those requirements in a way that would make sense.”
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.