The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey fleet surpassed 25,000 flight hours on March 9, when a crew from the first Osprey student class at the 71st Special Operations Squadron at Kirtland AFB, N.M. flew a two-hour qualification flight, according to Bell-Boeing officials at a Washington defense conference Wednesday. Air Force Special Operations Command’s 71st SOS became the Air Force’s inaugural CV-22 unit back in 2005. Gene Cunningham, Boeing Vice President and deputy V-22 program director, told Air Force Magazine he expects delivery of CV-10—AFSOC’s 10th Osprey—to Kirtland this month, with 11 CV-22s scheduled to roll off the line this year in total.
Unit commanders are being told to separate service members who can’t shave their cheeks and chin for medical reasons for more than a year, according to new guidance from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
