Airmen will soon see “combat skills training” added to their specialty technical training, Lt. Gen. Dennis Larsen, vice chief of Air Education and Training Command, said earlier this week. Meeting with reporters at Bolling AFB, D.C., Larsen explained that the Air Force is discovering that the time added to basic training to teach small arms and infantry tactics isn’t enough. He said the Air Force is worried “they may have forgotten it by the time they get through” with their follow-on specialty training in maintenance, fuels, etc. AETC will soon add fighting refreshers to all tech-training courses, he said.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.