A special tactics combat controller will receive the Air Force Cross on Dec. 10 for his actions in a 2017 battle in Afghanistan, where he is credited with protecting more than 150 friendly forces and destroying 11 fighting positions over the course of an eight-hour ...
U.S. Airmen and aircraft from two bases in England recently deployed to Aalborg, Denmark for a two-week, multilateral agile combat employment (ACE) exercise hosted by the Combined Special Operations Air Task Group. Agile combat employment is a budding USAF strategy in which the service can ...
Air Mobility Command is testing how its workhorse strategic airlifter can not only carry in combat weapons systems, but also directly contribute to a fight by dropping bombs and providing targeting data for artillery. As part of the high-tech Advanced Battle Management System “onramp” evaluations ...
Air Force Special Operations Command’s review of valor awards for possible upgrades, including potentially to the Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross, is still ongoing, though it is “winding down,” with a handful of cases still under review. A Defense Department-wide review of valor ...
The Pentagon’s decision to keep the 352nd Special Operations Wing at its current home of RAF Mildenhall, U.K., necessitates new military construction to update the base's neglected infrastructure for the Airmen, CV-22s, and MC-130s, though it also means the wing can stay in a familiar ...
Master Sgt. John Grimesey, the flight chief of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field, N.C., on Aug. 14 received the military's Silver Star medal for his actions during a 2013 firefight in Afghanistan. He saved the life of one Soldier and killed more ...
USAF F-16s, KC-135s, MC-130Js, and MQ-9s linked up with U.S. Navy aircraft and ships as well as support from U.S. Space Command during a large-scale exercise in the Black Sea on July 22. The mission in Eastern Europe, with Russia watching, “was designed to train ...
An Air Force special tactics combat controller died when his improperly packed reserve parachute inadvertently deployed into the wind stream outside an MC-130H before a training jump, pulling him from the aircraft, according to an Air Force investigation. Staff Sgt. Cole Condiff, 29, a special ...
Congress wants to pump the brakes on U.S. Special Operations Command’s effort to buy a new plane for armed overwatch in remote areas, after many lawmakers recently supported a similar Air Force program. Lawmakers call on Pentagon leadership to describe why SOCOM would need such ...
A pararescueman died during an October 2019 mountain rescue and climbing training exercise in Idaho after an anchor system failed, pulling him off the top of a cliff. Tech. Sgt. Peter Kraines, 33, a Special Tactics PJ with the 24th Special Operations Wing at Pope ...
Fighter jets won support among senators in new defense policy legislation that also raised questions about some of the Air Force’s top priorities. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a $740.5 billion version of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill 25-2 on June 10. Its ...
Don’t expect much investment in new fleets of special-operations aircraft as the Pentagon braces for a budget crunch, the head of Air Force Special Operations Command said May 13. “We acknowledge that we are at a strategic inflection point,” Lt. Gen. Jim Slife said during ...