A 71-member team of airmen with the 5th Combat Communications Group, Robins AFB, Ga., flew into Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, to await their call to set up communications capability for the Pakistan earthquake relief effort. These combat communications specialists—battlefield airmen—are trained to go into austere environments to set up air traffic control, radio, telephone, and computer capability. (Read our article here.) They came prepared to fan out in Pakistan in small teams of three to four people with backpack satellite radios and wireless computers to coordinate helicopter landings.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.