The airmen of the 55th Fighter Squadron from Shaw AFB, S.C., participating in Combat Hammer at Hill AFB, Utah, are experiencing some rare fighter pilot thrills, according to Lt. Col. Tom Littleton. The 55th FS director of operations says the opportunity to drop air-to-ground weapons in this type of combat exercise happens only about twice in a pilot’s career. And, during Hammer, the 55th FS becomes the first USAF operational fighter squadron to train, become certified, and drop a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Shaw has sent some 123 airmen and several F-16s to Hill.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
