SSgt. Ryan Fausey with the 682nd Air Support Operations Squadron at Shaw AFB, S.C., is the Air Force’s Fighter Duty Technician of the Year for 2007. The job of an FDT is to support Joint Terminal Attack Controllers and aircrews in a theater of operations, or, in Fausey’s words: “It’s all about getting the aircraft to the target safely and helping them prosecute targets efficiently.” According to some of his peers, Fausey is the right man for the job. “SSgt. Justin Cremer, also with the 682nd ASOS, calls Fausey “one of the finest FDTs I’ve worked with in my eight years of being a [terminal air control party specialist].” (Shaw report by SSgt. John Gordinier)
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.