The 505th Command and Control Wing at Nellis AFB, Nev., will host the first-ever Air Support Operations Center initial qualification course March 31. The three-week course will provide training for battlefield airmen attached to Army divisions or corps. It is designed to fuse the gap between operational and tactical levels and train the airmen how to provide the full spectrum of air, space, and cyber capabilities to ground commanders, according to Lt. Col. Robert D. Beckel, 505th Operations Group deputy commander. Fourteen students, the maximum allowed, are in the inaugural course. The wing plans to host four courses in 2008, followed by six next year, and eventually growing to nine annually. (Nellis report by Capt. Laura Ropelis)
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.