Chalk up another first for the new F-22A—operational pilots launching operational air-to-air missiles in a combat-type employment. Pilots of the first operational Raptor unit, the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Va., fired AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles at drones flying over the Gulf Mexico for a weapons systems evaluation program, known as Combat Archer. Normally a two-week affair, the Raptors only flew one day to help prepare the WSEP team, the 83rd Fighter Weapons Squadron at Tyndall AFB, Fla., for a full-scale F-22A deployment this summer. A key issue was whether the Florida unit could pick up the missile telemetry after missile launch from the fighter’s internal weapons bay. It worked.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.