A US District Court judge has ruled in favor of the Air Force and against former Air National Guard pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt, who had claimed USAF violated privacy rules in revealing a letter of reprimand written about him following a hearing into the Tarnak Farms friendly fire incident in 2002. Judge Jeanne Scott in Springfield, Ill., found that the “competing public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs Schmidt’s privacy interest.” Schmidt had accepted a hearing before a general officer in lieu of a court-martial.
The Air Force plans to start buying thousands of advanced new handheld radios in 2027 for downed aircrew to communicate with search-and-rescue forces, a capability spotlighted earlier this year during the recovery of two aviators shot down in Iran.