Dedicated crew chief SSgt. Benjamin Norton and assistant crew chief A1C Jason Edwards earlier this week delivered a B-52 bomber with “no known discrepancies,” a very rare occurrence for an aircraft of its vintage—about 48 years old. Col. Steven Shinkle, 2nd Maintenance Group commander, called the feat by the two Barksdale AFB, La., airmen “an amazing testament” to their work. “Having absolutely no write ups on an aircraft of this age is no easy task,” he said. Norton and Edwards took charge of this particular bomber about nine months ago, when it had more than 1,600 maintenance discrepancies that needed fixing. Veteran maintainer SMSgt. Jeff Williams said, “I know of only seven other cases in my 12 years of B-52 experience where a crew chief launched a perfect jet.” (Barksdale report)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.