Maj. Scott Hall and SMSgt. Anthony Smith have received the 2010 Gen. Lew Allen Jr. Award, recognized for their excellence in aircraft sortie generation. “This is about fixing machines and maintaining platforms, and doing it better than anyone else in our Air Force,” said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz during Tuesday’s award ceremony in the Pentagon. Hall was honored for his work during his previous assignment as maintenance operations officer with the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Shaw AFB, S.C. Among his accomplishments, he led the first F-16 satellite communications modification for operations in Afghanistan that resulted in a 50-percent increase in precision strikes. Among his stand-out activities, Smith, F-16 aircraft maintenance unit superintendent with the 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., helped reduce the aircraft cannibalization rate by 10 percent while maintaining an 86-percent mission-capable rate. (SAF/PA report by TSgt. Jess Harvey)
A U.S. F-35C shot down an Iranian drone operating near the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier Feb. 3 in a dramatic incident that American military officials cautioned could lead to conflict amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S.
