Starting today, airmen can take advantage of a new course to train instructors in the use of night vision goggles now offered at Randolph AFB, Tex. The one and a half day course transferred last year from the auspices of an Air Force Research Lab unit at Mesa, Ariz., to Air Education and Training Command and subsequently Randolph, where a team of physiologists and instructor pilots created specialized classrooms and a new curriculum. The airmen who complete this advanced course share that expertise with their assigned units.
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.