Under the category of things missed, we report that the Air Force Research Lab’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., last month received the Air Force’s Modeling and Simulation Experimentation Award for 2006. A team of five (leader Rudy Martinez, 1st Lt. Joseph Friel, Brian Spanbauer, Beth Nayder, and Linda Lamberson) won the award for their work in advancing experimentation wargaming by employing high-energy lasers, high-power microwaves, and other models of DE weapons in warfighting simulations.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.