The Air Force on Dec. 5 hailed the recipients of the 2004 Mackay Trophy, emblematic of the most noteworthy aircraft flight of the year. The winners were aircrews of the 347th Rescue Wing’s Jolly 11 and Jolly 12 flights. The two HH-60G Pave Hawk crews flew an April 16, 2004, mission called “Sky King 61,” in which they rescued a five-person crew of an Army CH-47 brought down by a sandstorm in Iraq. During the rescue mission, which took place in conditions of near-zero visibility, the USAF aircrews evaded six surface-to-air missile and rocket-propelled-grenade attacks.
The Space Force has selected six commercial space domain awareness companies to support military operations with both steady-state and surge capacity, as part of the service’s new Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve.