Travis CRG Trains in Sierra Nevada: In California’s remote Honey Lake Valley, northwest of Reno, Nev., the 570th Contingency Response Group, based at Travis AFB, Calif., spent 10 days last month taking part in its first full-scale exercise, practicing a descent onto a remote runway and setting up air operations in a hostile environment. “We want to be able to rapidly supply soldiers on the battlefield and to do that we fly supplies and personnel into the most forward-operating locations available,” Lt. Col. Rick Matton, the 570th deputy commander, told the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times. He added, that the CRG airmen could open up an airfield anywhere “as long as we’ve got a radio and a forklift.” (Our article “The First-In Mobility Crowd” offers some background on CRGs.)
With key members of Congress wavering on the possibility of a $350 billion defense reconciliation bill, defense experts told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the Pentagon is likely drawing up budget backup plans—but such plans would face hard choices between high-end weapons and low-cost drones and other programs in…