USAF security forces at Kirkuk AB, Iraq, slowly are transferring their combat patrol mission to Iraqi government forces. The airmen of the 506th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron already have taken a step back—shifting to an “over-watch” role in controlling movement around the base, says 1st Lt. Justin Banez, a 506th ESFS flight leader. The US airmen are conducting combined patrols with Iraqi personnel, but they still also patrol the area outside the base, interacting with local Iraqis to keep abreast of activities in the area. Such interaction, says Capt. Michael Borders, 506th operations officer, aids in “denying insurgents the passive support they need to conduct attacks on the airfield.”
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…