The Air Force has just identified the Air National Guard’s 163rd Air Refueling Wing at March ARB, Calif., as the recipient-to-be of a new MQ-1 Predator UAV unit. The 2005 BRAC sliced off the 163rd’s KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft, so the wing, like others caught in the BRAC-fall, has been in a new mission hunt. Officials say the unit designation will change to the 163rd Wing.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.