Air Force and other service medical teams are operating “closer to the front than ever before,” USAF’s Surgeon General told the House Appropriations defense panel last week. Lt. Gen. James Roudebush said the new system of joint en route care has meant that wounded warriors are moved, on average, from the battlefield to definitive care in the States in “three days or less.” He compared that to the up to 14 days required during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and 45 days during the Vietnam War. The Air Force medics, alone, said Roudebush, have “treated and safely evacuated more than 41,000 patients since the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.”
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.