Cooperative Cope Thunder AEW Stands Up: More than 800 American military personnel and allied forces arrived this week at Eielson AFB, Alaska for the start of Cooperative Cope Thunder 06-03, the Air Force’s largest multilateral air combat exercise in the Pacific theater. The exercise will soon be renamed Cooperative Red Flag-Alaska. This year’s lead unit is the 35th Fighter Wing, Misawa AB, Japan, with Col. Nelson Cabot taking on the role as 35th Air Expeditionary Wing commander. Maintainers are preparing a variety of aircraft to take on the 68,000 square miles of range space available on the nearby Pacific Alaska Range Complex. Watch this space for updates
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.