USAF Joint Terminal Attack Controllers assisting with recovery operations after Hurricane Katrina had the latest in battlefield technology, enabling them to view real-time video from specially equipped aircraft. Air Combat Command deployed 10 Remote Operations Video Enhanced Receiver—or ROVER—units to the Gulf Coast area for use by JTACs from 9th Air Force, headquartered at Shaw AFB, S.C. According to ACC, ROVERs received imagery from active duty A-10 and Air National Guard C-130 and Navy P-3 aircraft, as well as the camera of a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle mounted on top of a hotel in downtown New Orleans.
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…