According to the Desert Eagle, the Air Force Combat Weather Team is doing a “great job” forecasting Southwest Asia area thunder and lightening storms, especially considering their lack of desert training. They “nailed” one recent forecast three days out, said Col. John Norton, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander. The CWT worked continuously during the storm to update conditions, enabling an aeromedical flight to land as scheduled within minutes of a dramatic loss of visibility.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.