There is a group of 15 “extremely talented people” at Eglin AFB, Fla., whose job is to solve munitions equipment problems for the entire Air Force, says the unit’s superintendent, SMSgt Michael Kiser. The Munitions Materiel Handling Equipment Focal Point office came into being in 1982 and, since that time, has designed more than 100 pieces of equipment, from an AIM-9 Sidewinder guidance section, warhead, and target detector guidance stand to a lug align tool for the Joint Direct Attack Munition. Airmen in the field who have ideas for equipment to “make their job, easier, or safer” they contact the Focal Point, project manager MSgt. Gary Hoffman tells Air Armament Center journalist SSgt. Ryan Hansen. Right now the group—a mix of blue-suit and civilian technicians and engineers—has 42 projects in the design or fabrication stage.
National Guard adjutants general from nearly two dozen states have signed a letter to Congress seeking multiyear funding for the Air Force to purchase between 72 and 100 new fighter jets per year to modernize the total force.The letter, sent to Congress last week, stresses the need for the Air…