The F/A-22 Raptor on 
Aug. 29 demonstrated its air-to-ground capability, launching two Joint Direct Attack Munitions on the Utah Test and Training Range—the culminating slice of a mission scenario, not the whole pie. It was the first of a series of follow-on operational test and evaluation missions that will run through late fall, according to officials with the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nev. Each mission may include numerous sorties, all flown in “operationally realistic” scenarios with adversaries, aerial refueling, and ground control intercept, as well as the full maintenance effort needed to produce each sortie.
New approaches to testing Space Force equipment are speeding up delivery to operators, but the service needs more testers and perhaps its own space-focused test center, officials said April 1. Those are key pieces of the fledgling force’s testing methods and future moves that will keep new technology flowing into…