The 46th Operations Support Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla., recently won the 2005 Complex of the Year award—which honors one of the most complex airspace and airfield arrangements in the Air Force. The facility has nearly five million square yards of pavement that is used by six wings, five commands, the Army, the Navy, and six civilian airlines. Lt. Col. Mike Penland, the 46th OSS commander, calls the operation “virtually a symphony of activity that must be safely orchestrated to ensure all customers can operate safely in and out of [the area] while balancing mission requirements for test, training, real world operations, and civilian air traffic.”
One of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ prototype Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones crashed shortly after takeoff April 6, and the company has paused its test flights while it investigates the incident.