More than 150 airmen from Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and Washington will join with Army solders from Texas to participate later this month in Operation Pacific Angel 2009, a multinational humanitarian assistance exercise in Southeast Asia. The first round of Pacific Angel will occur July 10-24 in Kupang, West Timor, in Indonesia, and in Dili City, in the nation of Timor Leste. The US airmen and soldiers will work with local non-governmental organizations and host-nation militaries in activities including aeromedical evacuation subject-matter-expert exchanges and medical, dental, and engineering civic-assistance programs. A second round of Pacific Angel will take place in September in Vietnam. Pacific Angel supports US Pacific Command’s capacity-building efforts. (Hickam report by Capt. Genieve David)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.