US airmen at RAF Fairford are now cleaning up after monsoon-like downpours in England in the last week caused about $200,000 worth of flood damage to the base’s facilities. The estimate includes 10 facilities and eight housing units as well as minor flood damage to RAF Welford, reports Stars and Stripes. Had base personnel not used sandbags and barriers to divert the heavy rainfall on July 20, nearly every house in Fairford’s 84-unit housing area could have flooded.
The Air Force plans to field at least 500 semi-autonomous fighter drones known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft by 2032, and another 500 cheap reconnaissance and strike drones known as Massed Modular Aircraft that same year, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Sept. 14.
