A motivated group of Air Force Reserve Command airmen deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, recently spent 10 days turning a dingy and foul-smelling back shop into a fully functional avionics intermediate shop for the busy base. Reservists from Homestead ARB, Fla., cleaned and painted the floors, walls, doors, and ceiling of the shop and removed old junk that was taking up space, and built replacement shelves out of salvaged wood. With help from the civil engineering unit to fix the lighting, technicians can now use the shop to test F-16 line replacement units—doubling the avionics repair capability for critical F-16 operations, said Maj. David Nicholson, 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander.
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.
