Air
Force F-16 mechanics deployed to Southwest Asia still must perform phase inspections for their Vipers—a four to five day process every 400 flight hours. And, the rate of sorties flown means the inspection time rolls around just that much faster—about every 120 days compared to once a year in the states, reports SrA. Candace Romano. “We literally de-panel and inspect the entire jet,” fixing anything that needs repair or maintenance, says TSgt. Ethan Thomas, a phase dock chief deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, from Misawa AB, Japan.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
