The commander of Air Force Reserve Command’s 944th Fighter Wing, Col. Derek Rydholm, talked with the Arizona Republic about the impact of BRAC 2005 on the 944th FW at Luke AFB, Ariz. The shift of the unit’s F-16s fighters has, after a fashion, already begun, since those being sent off for upgrades will not be returning. Rydholm says the wing officially begins sending the Vipers to other units on Oct. 1. One of the wing’s squadrons, the 302nd Fighter Squadron, moves to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, where the Reservists will fly active duty F-22A Raptors. The 301st FS remains at Luke, where it will pick up an F-16 training mission, instructing new active duty pilots how to fly the F-16s that belong to Luke’s 56th FW.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
