Air National Guar
d fighters from Minnesota and Wisconsin took turns accompanying the Cessna aircraft that penetrated US airspace over Lake Superior on Monday and made its way under suspicious circumstances to southern Missouri where it landed on a highway near Ellsinore and the pilot was subsequently apprehended. NORAD scrambled two F-16s from the Minnesota ANG’s 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth initially to intercept the Cessna near Michigan’s upper peninsula. The Minnesota F-16s later handed off the coverage to F-16s from the Wisconsin ANG’s 115th FW at Madison. The Cessna pilot, flying erratically, did not respond to the verbal and non-verbal commands of the F-16 pilots to land, NORAD said in a release. The Wisconsin fighters were about to hand the mission over to F-15s from the Louisiana ANG’s 159th FW out of New Orleans when the Cessna finally touched down. FoxNews.com reported yesterday that the Cessna pilot, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Turkey, wanted to commit suicide and was hoping that the fighters would fire upon him. (Includes NGB report by SSgt. Patrick McCollum) (For more on the incident, read yesterday’s CNN.com report.)
Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs from Anduril and General Atomics passed their critical design reviews early in November, clearing the way for detailed production efforts to get underway, the Air Force said. How future versions will be upgraded is still under discussion.