The Minnesota National Guard revealed this weekend that some 200 airmen deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, from the Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing at Duluth, Minn., will stay longer than their original 45-day tour—possible another 40 days. The Minnesota Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Larry Shelito, expressed his disappointment in a statement, but acknowledged, “This is a sound Air Force decision based on the available military resources in Iraq.” The Minnesota F-16 unit is on hold because its replacement has “an unexpected delay” not because of the recent surge in forces, according to the Guard statement.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
