U.S. Special Operations Command expects a future armed overwatch fleet to quickly reach full utilization, including one squadron deployed at all times, to meet a growing global need for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. SOCOM wants to buy 75 of the aircraft, and Air Force Special ...
The crew of an AC-130J on June 22 received Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals for protecting helicopters evacuating wounded American and Afghan forces during a September 2019 fight in Afghanistan. The Ghostrider, callsign Shadow 71, provided about two hours of constant close air support ...
The need to prepare for great power competition means Air Force Special Operations Command is at a historic “inflection point” akin to transformations following the failed 1980 hostage rescue in Iran and four counter-terrorism operations after 9/11. “The rise of belligerent peers and near-peers who ...
Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer Defense & Security on March 29 unveiled the latest A-29 Super Tucano headed to Air Force Special Operations Command, painted in a unique livery referencing the early lineage of air special operations. The A-29 is painted in the color scheme ...
U.S. special operations forces need a new armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft to fully support all its missions, Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 25. “In many remote areas, intelligence, surveillance, ...
Tech company Sparta Science is pairing force-plate technology with machine learning to help Air Force Special Operations Command’s 24th Special Operations Wing predict and prevent injuries in its special tactics Airmen. Force-plate scans help illuminate movement quirks that can make people more prone to injuries, ...
Unmanned aerial vehicles are fair game for U.S. Special Operations Command’s armed overwatch platform competition, Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife told reporters on Feb. 25. However, the MQ-9 Reaper drone might not be up to the challenge in ...
Air Education and Training Command has incorporated a focus on human performance optimization—which includes personal resilience, health, fitness, diet, and mental performance—into its Undergraduate Pilot Training 2.5 program, 19th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Craig D. Wills said at the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace ...
Department of the Air Force leadership has distributed videos and instructions for how local commanders can hold their Defense Department-ordered one-day stand down to focus on extremism, with the goal of small group discussions on core values in service. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. ...
Air Force Special Operations Command is running an experiment to see if it can successfully generate small, deployable teams of multi-capable Airmen to better align with the Air Force’s agile combat employment model, AFSOC Commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife said during a Mitchell ...
Air Force Special Operations Command expects to conduct an armed overwatch flying demonstration “in the coming months” and U.S. Special Operations Command may make a procurement decision as early as 2022, AFSOC boss Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife said Feb. 16. “I think we ...
Lawmakers want to quash the prospect of buying new armed overwatch planes for special operations troops or the Air Force in the next few years, as part of the final draft of the 2021 defense policy bill released this month. They seek to block SOCOM ...