Maj. Bob Battema with the 522nd Fighter Squadron flew the unit’s last F-16 Viper flight at Cannon AFB, N.M., on Dec. 21, preceding the formal inactivation of the squadron, reports the Clovis News-Journal. Cannon formally became an Air Force Special Operations Command base in October, and the 522nd FS was the last Air Combat Command fighter unit at Cannon to furl its colors. The conversion to an AFSOC facility is in full swing.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
