The Colorado Air National Guard’s 120th Fighter Squadron at Buckley AFB, Colo., has opened new aircrew alert quarters. This new $4 million building is christened “911” to commemorate Operation Noble Eagle, which began following the 9/11 terrorist attacks to protect US airspace. The squadron, tasked with rapid-response air sovereignty alert with its F-16s, used temporary facilities after ONE commenced for its 24-hour alert crews. “For the last 10 years, we’ve been operating out of our temporary quarters that were literally trailers. These new shelters are state of the art,” said Brig. Gen. Trulan Eyre, commander of Buckley’s 140th Wing, parent organization of the fighter unit. Members of the Colorado Congressional delegation attended the grand opening ceremony on April 2. Capping the ribbon-cutting event was a mock alert scramble. (Buckley report by SSgt. Nicole Manzanares)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
