Air Mobility Command’s 18th Air Force has field tested its new Contingency Response Group, deploying some members to set up airfield operations in the areas devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita plus the earthquake in Pakistan, But it sent an entire CRG package—113 airmen covering 34 different specialty codes—to the recent Bright Star exercise to get the full combat condition experience. Within hours of their arrival in Egypt, officials say, the 816th CRG from McGuire AFB, N.J., had set up a fully functional air base and a second one four days later. During their two-month deployment, the airmen coordinated airfield support and maintenance for some 20 different types of aircraft from five nations. The exercise also provided the first test of a joint CRG that merged Air Force and Army mobility elements under one force, called Joint Task Force-Port Opening.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.