SSgt. Jessica Kuge, a videographer stationed at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., has received a Bronze Star medal for her documentation of 40 combat and humanitarian missions during a 143-day deployment to Iraq in 2006. A1C Erica Stewart reports that Kuge continued to document an insurgent ambush while she was under direct fire, aiding battle damage assessment and aiding identification of Iraqi policemen killed in the attack. Much of her work in Iraq supported US Army patrols and convoys.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.