The Air Force is training more mobility personnel on the new Joint Precision Air Drop System, which employs Global Positioning System navigation signals to deliver cargo bundles at higher altitudes and away from ground fire. An Air Mobility Command JPADS mobile training team, led by John Hayes, recently descended upon the Idaho Air National Guard’s Gowen Field near Boise, where its is training Air Guardsmen from Idaho, Kentucky, and New York. JPADS has been used successfully in both Afghanistan and Iraq combat operations.
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.