SrA. James A. Hansen, 25, of Athens, Mich., died Wednesday of wounds suffered during a controlled detonation at JB Balad, Iraq, the Defense Department has announced. Hansen was assigned to the 46th Operations Support Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla. He was one of the roughly 6,000 airmen still in Iraq supporting Operation New Dawn, the advise-and-assist mission that supplanted Operation Iraqi Freedom on Sept. 1. (DOD release)
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.