The head of the Massachusetts National Guard, Brig. Gen. Oliver Mason Jr. has confirmed that the Air National Guard unit at Otis ANGB, Mass., will transition from fighter aircraft to intelligence processing. Reports had been circulating for months that Otis would be the site for one of USAF’s new distributed ground stations. The ANG’s 102nd Fighter Wing will lose its F-15s under BRAC 2005 and transition to its new mission—and be renamed—sometime in 2008.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
