Air Force officials turned up at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, Ga., last week to cast their eyes on the tail section—with the Alaska tail code—of the first F-22 Raptor bound for Pacific Air Forces. This Raptor will join 35 others destined for Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, beginning next year. Elmendorf will establish two active-duty F-22 squadrons and one Air Force Reserve Command associate squadron.
With the Air Force in the midst of its biggest testing boom in decades, the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is making sure those tests include an often-overlooked perspective: that of maintainers.