According to Air Combat Command, the 27th Fighter Squadron, which has been absent from the Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation as it transitioned to the F-22, will be able to re-join the AEF queue in January 2007. ACC head Gen. Ronald Keys says it wouldn’t surprise him if the unit did deploy to combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan—if the US is still engaged in those areas. The F-22 and its operators and maintainers, says Keys, are ready to deploy and fight anywhere—as of today.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
