Air Force Special Operations Command has a big day planned for Nov. 16, AFSOC commander Gen. Michael Wooley said Tuesday. That’s the date that AFSOC expects to get its first operational CV-22 Osprey aircraft. The Air Commando wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla., will at the same time reactivate the 1st Special Operations Wing, bringing back the designation from AFSOC’s formative days. The existing 16th Special Operations Wing will relocate to the command’s new base at Cannon AFB, N.M. Wooley said standing up a second wing with “equivalent capabilities” at Cannon realizes a vision AFSOC has had for more than a decade—to stand up a new base west of the Mississippi. AFSOC continues to grow and has outgrown Hurlburt, Wooley said.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
