Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) thinks his state may not lose an Air Force Research Lab facility at Mesa, Ariz., that BRAC 2005 directed should move to AFRL headquarters at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Flake told the Arizona Republic that the action on AFRL’s Warfighter Readiness Research Division at Mesa could be “postponed indefinitely.” Of course, that is not supposed to happen once the President and Congress sign off on the independent BRAC commission recommendations. And, Wright-Patt is investing big money to absorb new functions.
When an E-3 Sentry battle management aircraft was damaged in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, it sparked a host of questions about one of the Air Force’s oldest, smallest, but most critical fleets. Experts say the service doesn’t have many options to answer those questions.