Thirteen airmen currently are living and working on the Pacific island of Palau, helping to build infrastructure and provide a favorable presence for the US military. An Air Force team sent to the island in 2004 began building a search and rescue station on one of Palau’s islands, and the new team completed it, reducing the time it takes to get injured people to medical care. Another project will build a rec center for the Palau Community College. The current airmen are only the second Air Force team to participate in the Palau humanitarian work since it began in the 1970s, reports MSgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
Two of the Air Force’s semi-autonomous drones flew air combat maneuvers coordinated by an “AI pilot,” or mission autonomy software, in a test Oct. 26, a first for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.