USAF units with flying operations in Britain face a continual threat from the indigenous bird population, say officials. There are as many as 40 different types of birds, with ever growing populations, that infest RAFs Fairford, Lakenheath, and Mildenhall, but officials say that, since they have employed birds of prey the number of aircraft bird strikes has gone down. Base officials use other measures—like sirens, tapes of dogs barking, and other sounds—first to scare the birds off, but the birds become desensitized to sounds. The three bases contract for a professional bird control service, which trains and employs birds of prey, such as Harris Hawks, Europena Eagle Owls, and Peregrine Falcons, “to scare but not to kill” the target birds.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…