Suicide rates of airmen dropped by 49 percent from Fiscal 2004 to 2005, according to Air Force statistics. There were 29 active duty suicides in 2005, a rate of 7.8 per 100,000 airmen. USAF officials credit the lower rates to a “state-of-the-art integrated system of policy and programs” called the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program, which the service created nine years ago.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.