Elements of the Air Force’s elite construction crews are working at such places as Forward Operating Base Hammer near Baghdad to provide facilities for US ground surge forces. Capt. Ken Hall reports, in the second of a two-part article, that the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron worked with an Army engineer battalion to complete FOB Hammer’s Phase 1 and 2 for the Army’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.