Two T-6 Texan II training aircraft collided Nov. 28 around 1 p.m. over the Columbus AFB, Miss., auxiliary airfield in Shuqualak. The four airmen ejected safely; the aircraft crashed. And, in Iraq, the Air Force has lost another MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. It crashed in an unpopulated area on Nov. 29 at about 11 a.m. local time. The Air Force says accident investigations have begun on each incident.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.