The latest promotion data for selection to master sergeant and technical sergeant show a 5 percent and 1.6 percent jump, respectively, over last year. The Air Force selected 6,002 out of 24,115 technical sergeants for promotion to master sergeant, and 7,314 out of 34,797 eligible staff sergeants for tech. CMSgt. Rusty Nicholson at the Air Force Personnel Center said the “promotion quota was significantly higher this year” and the eligibility pool was “smaller.” He noted, though, that nearly 6,000 deployed noncommissioned officers have yet to test for promotion. The Air Force plans to consider them in a supplemental list.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
