Hickam AFB, Hawaii, has the newest of the Air Force’s five Distributed Ground Stations, in which intelligence imagery analysts interpret images taken by unmanned aerial vehicles or other intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets. “The reachback capability that we represent is amazing,” TSgt. Michael Henry told USAF journalist TSgt. Chris Vadnais. (Read our 2004 article on Operation Reachback.)
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.