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)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.