The KC-135 tanker is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but so is a retired chief master sergeant, who spent his entire Air Force career working on the KC-135 and continued right on in civilian life. Retired CMSgt. Bobby McCasland was with the crew that picked up USAF’s first KC-135 in 1957 and spent the next 23 years in and around the tanker. After retiring, he worked with the Air Force as a civilian—on KC-135 quality assurance—retiring in 1987. He is now helping convert a KC-135R into a communication test aircraft at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla. (Read more here.)
Pentagon Task Force, FAA to Test Counter-Drone Laser
March 7, 2026
The Pentagon’s counter-drone task force announced it would conduct a high-energy laser test with the Federal Aviation Administration less than a month after the use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace over El Paso, Texas.