Combat weathermen at Balad AB, Iraq, find their work both rewarding and tough, reports Air Force journalist SSgt. Alice Moore. The “biggest challenge,” says MSgt. Michael Dannelly, NCOIC of Balad’s combat weather flight, is dust and sand. “It’s very difficult to predict the intensity and dispersal of the dust storms here,” he explained. Still, he said, “When you get an aircraft on the ground before a dust storm hits it’s a pretty satisfying feeling.”
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
