According to the man in charge of USAF rescue forces during Hurricane Katrina last year, his force eventually had 23 HH-60G Pave Hawks, five HC-130Ps, and three C-130Es, which he says “was a bit more than I expected.” Col. Joseph Callahan, commander of the 347th Rescue Wing at Moody AFB, Ga., calls the operation a first, saying, “Never before had we placed so many assets together to execute a rescue mission.” The cobbled together force, from units around the country, ultimately rescued more than 4,300 people. Callahan credits past operations and exercises at which many of the rescue personnel had met for enabling the disparate units to function as “a single team.”
U.S. Northern Command and multiple research organizations just wrapped up a joint, three-year experiment to test new radar technology that could enable the Northern Warning System to detect incoming threats at longer ranges across Alaska and northern Canada.