Airmen of the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” yesterday, as the Today crew broadcast from the Arctic. The Times Union reports that the Air Guardsmen were part of a three-minute segment “From Pole to Pole,” in which host Matt Lauer talked about the unit, which is performing its annual Operation Deep Freeze mission with its ski-equipped LC-130s. (Currently there’s a video about the unit on the MSNBC page under “Ends of the Earth.”
With key members of Congress wavering on the possibility of a $350 billion defense reconciliation bill, defense experts told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the Pentagon is likely drawing up budget backup plans—but such plans would face hard choices between high-end weapons and low-cost drones and other programs in…