Three 
Air Force Academy graduates are leading the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-133, its final scheduled mission. Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Feb. 24 on an 11-day mission to support the International Space Station. Its pilot is Col. Eric Boe, a 1987 academy graduate and who also piloted STS-126, a previous shuttle flight. The mission commander is retired Col. Steven Lindsey, who graduated from the academy in 1982 and is the veteran of four shuttle flights. Col. Alvin Drew, a 1984 academy graduate, is the mission specialist. Along with the three other crewmembers, these academy alumni will deliver spare components and install equipment on ISS. Drew is also slated to conduct 13 hours of extravehicular work on the space station. (Colorado Springs report by John Van Winkle) (See also Patrick release)
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.