The 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam, opened a new commando warrior technical training facility at the base’s Northwest Field Jan. 20. The wing’s 736th Security Forces Squadron will use the facility to train about 1,500 airmen per year in robust combat skills before they deploy in support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Prior to its arrival, such training had to be conducted at dispersed locations across the base. According to Lt. Col. Troy Roberts, commander of the 736th SFS, the facility is the first-of-its-kind consolidated training campus in the Pacific region. In addition to airmen, the Air Force will be able to train military members of Pacific partner nations at the facility. (Andersen report by A1C Courtney Witt)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…