The Pentagon on Saturday identified two airmen who perished in the April 8 crash of a USAF CV-22 Osprey that claimed the lives of a US soldier and a civilian employee and injured others on board. The airmen were Maj. Randell D. Voas, 43, of Lakeville, Minn., and SMSgt. James B. Lackey, 45, of Green Clove Springs, Fla., both members of the 8th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla. According to a 1st Special Operations Wing release, Voas was a CV-22 evaluator pilot and a former MH-53 pilot who traded Army green for Air Force blue in 1999. Lackey was a CV-22 evaluator flight engineer and 14-year veteran MH-53 flight engineer, who entered the Air Force in 1986. Members of the 8th SOS had been deployed to Afghanistan since March; it was the second Southwest Asia tour for the unit with its new Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. (Also see Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune report; Panama City News-Herald report)
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.