At Kadena AB, Japan on the island of Okinawa, airmen who are not Security Forces are being trained by the 18th Security Forces Squadron to protect their units. The training comes under a program the Air Force has dubbed Selective Arming Program and calls SELARM for short. SrA. Nestor Cruz reports that the effort is in a “trial and error period” and has been undertaken by just a few units. However, Capt. Sarah Bragg, 18th SFS operations officer, expects it to be “wing-wide eventually.”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers this week there will be no gap in the service’s close air support capabilities under its latest plan to retire the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II at the start of the next decade.