NATO officials from 16 countries traveled recently to Robins AFB, Ga., for the Alliance Ground Surveillance Conference to discuss NATO’s new ground surveillance program, expected to take some of the workload off USAF’s ever busy E-8 Joint STARS aircraft. While at Robins, the NATO reps attended briefings with the 116th Air Control Wing and toured one of the wing’s E-8 aircraft. The primary aim of the conference was to discuss the way forward for the new AGS system, which is set to come into service in 2012. “Our biggest goal is coming up with a clearly defined road map before the system is implemented,” said Col. Michael Hain, NATO representative from Germany.
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
