USAF’s CV-22 Osprey is still in development testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., but officials say they have already begun training with Air Force Special Operations Command personnel. “We’re taking the airplanes, learning how to fly them, and learning how we are going to employ the aircraft … in future conflicts,” said Maj. Steven Breeze, director of operations for Det. 1, 18th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards. The special ops crews already have found that the Osprey takes less than half the preparation and preflight times of other airframes.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…