Barksdale AFB’s 93rd Bomb Squadron, 917th Reserve Wing, has become the first B-52 squadron to complete necessary training requirements for combat use of the LITENING-AT targeting pod. The units crews passed that milestone on July 13. The targeting pod, used with great success on tactical fighters, features high-definition electro-optical sensors and lasers to help crews detect and identify targets and guide weapons. With the upgrade, said Lt. Col. William Floyd, the 93rd BS weapons and tactics flight commander, the BUFF unit has achieved “probably the most combat relevant enhancement to the current B-52 mission.”
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…