Air National Guard airmen from Alabama, Illinois, and Wisconsin currently make up the Tiger aircraft maintenance unit at Balad AB, Iraq, where they maintain F-16s of the 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. More than half of these airmen are full-time Guardsmen, reports the Red Tail Flyer. That means many of them have worked together for years, 30 years in some cases. Others are new and are getting “more intense” experience than was possible during technical training, says SrA. Joshua Harrison from Alabama. The Tiger AMU has “fixed or inspected the jets twice as much as they would in the states,” according to the Flyer.
Pentagon Task Force, FAA to Test Counter-Drone Laser
March 7, 2026
The Pentagon’s counter-drone task force announced it would conduct a high-energy laser test with the Federal Aviation Administration less than a month after the use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace over El Paso, Texas.