Two F-15E crew chiefs with the 379th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron in Southwest Asia recently received Flightline Safety Awards for their quick action in saving other airmen and a multimillion dollar F-15E Strike Eagle. The Desert Eagle reports that SSgt. Victor Babuta and SrA. James Clark, both from Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C., were faced with a potentially explosive situation when they began to check out a problem reported by the aircrew of an F-15E just returned from a sortie. The crew chiefs saw smoke and smelled fumes, but before they could get the engine shut down, there was a loud pop and saw a flash fire. They immediately shut down the engine, and one ducked under the aircraft to reach and put out the fire, which was dangerously close to a live bomb.
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.