Air Force Reserve Command plans to establish a new associate unit at Beale AFB, Calif., working with Air Combat Command’s 548th Intelligence Group. The Reservists will operate under a “classic” associate arrangement, sharing the load in operating and maintaining active duty equipment. AFRC plans to shift authorizations from the 940th Air Refueling Wing at Beale, which loses its KC-135 tankers under BRAC 2005, to form the core of the new Beale unit by 2008.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.