Air Force Reserve Command civil engineers are spending six months on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean Sea to help build an operations center and barracks for the country’s police force as part of a humanitarian assignment. Approximately 140 civil engineers currently are focused on finishing the brick and mortar for walls and completing the roof trusses before the next team arrives in two weeks, according to Lt. Col. Richard Matthews, commander of the 433rd Civil Engineer Squadron at Lackland AFB, Tex. Construction on the facility has been on schedule since beginning in January and is set for completion in July, with 12 AFRC teams scheduled to rotate through the project in two-week stints.
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.