The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, Britain, is working 14 civilian contractors in 24-hour shifts, six days a week, to modify the wing’s F-15s in preparation for September deployment to Southwest Asia. The deploying fighters are getting fitted with advanced processors, software, and improved imagery, and munitions capabilities. According to MSgt. Byron Parsons, wing avionics manager, the newly installed advanced display core processors are the key to enabling the fighter’s to make full use of their Link-16 imagery system. The speed of the new processor and updated software let the Link-16 converse with unmanned aerial vehicles, E-3 AWACS aircraft, or a ground-pounder.
A helicopter instructor pilot failed to take sufficient corrective action in time to fix the mistakes of a student pilot taking off from a slope, resulting in a rollover that caused nearly $11 million in damages to a TH-1H chopper last spring.