Maj. Gen. William Holland, deputy combined force air component commander for US Central Command, says airmen at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, have made a bare facility something “absolutely phenomenal.” Holland has reason to know since he lead the 2001 team searching for bases before the US launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Holland told the Ganci Gazette, “That’s the beauty of our Air Force,” explaining that airmen even in a deployed environment “try to make it a little bit better.”
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.