Air traffic controllers at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, are now using a system called Merlin to help aircraft operating from the base avoid birds during takeoff and landing. Merlin is an all-weather, portable S-band radar system that is able to scan the skies around the base for miles. “We are giving the pilots and the ground crews a little more atmospheric awareness, and that is important,” said Ron Merritt, president of DeTect, the company that produces the radar. Bagram is the first air hub in a combat zone to use Merlin, and it has had the highest bird-strike rate of all USAF bases in the region. Merlin’s data are fed into a computer system that calculates the height and distance of any birds in the area. This allows controllers to notify aircrews of potentially deadly hazards. (Bagram report by SSgt. Richard Williams)
Sexual assaults in the U.S. military decreased for the first time in nearly a decade last year, according to a survey released May 16—but the Defense Department still faces deep mistrust among many women service members in how it handles cases. Both reported and estimated sexual assaults decreased for the…