A new report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that a new strain of adenovirus serotype resulted in the death of one basic trainee at Lackland AFB, Tex., and sickened another 106 from February through June. (The airman, who recovered enough to graduate basic training, then succumbed again to the illness was Amn. Paige Villers of Ohio, reports the Akron Beacon Journal.) The CDC confirmed a total of 140 cases of AD14 throughout Texas, Oregon, and Washington from March through June. In all, nine patients died. The report notes that, from March through September, three military bases in Texas reported 220 cases of AD14. Airmen from Lackland had reported to those bases, but so far health officials do not know whether the disease spread from Lackland.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.