Battlefield Airman Tests the Future in Binoculars: The coordination between battlefield airmen and pilots may get a boost with a new gyro-stabilized, laser-incorporating set of binoculars, called the Stabilized Portable Optical Target Tracking Receiver. The SPOTTR, recently tested during Northern Edge 2006 by TSgt. Nathan Hoffman, a joint terminal attack controller with the 354th Operations Group at Eielson AFB, Alaska, enables a battlefield airman to see where an aircraft’s targeting laser hits the ground. “I can give quick target ‘talk-ons’ to pilots, like ‘move your laser spot 100 meters east,” said Hoffman. In the current, time-consuming process, a JTAC uses terrain features to guide a pilot using a laser-guided bomb to the target.
The Air Force plans to have its new Integrated Capabilities Command stood up by the end of 2024, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said May 2, offering new details of one of the signature reforms announced by the service earlier this year. Allvin said around 500-800 Airmen will…