The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., has activated the 461st Flight Test Squadron to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force. (We missed this Nov. 29 news release.) The unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Ed Cassidy, noted that the JSF team already had “completed the review of 12 test plans … and we’ve seen the first engine run out at Fort Worth, Tex.,” among other accomplishments. His unit will oversee continued facility upgrades and the fighter’s first flight, slated for this month.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.