The Army on Wednesday identified the soldier killed in a Tuesday improvised explosive device blast in Afghanistan as SSgt. Matthew V. Thompson, 28, of Irvine, Calif. Thompson was assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces group (Airborne) at JB Lewis-McChord, Wash. He was killed and another soldier injured when an IED hit their patrol near Lashkar Gar, NATO announced. Six more Afghan soldiers were injured in the blast. This was Thompson’s first deployment to Afghanistan; he had previously deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the Army announced. Thompson was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart.
The advanced F-47 sixth-generation fighter remains on track to fly in the next two years, the senior Air Force acquisition officer overseeing the program said Feb. 25, as the service continues on its ambitious schedule to debut the air superiority-focused fighter by 2028—only three years after the contract was awarded…
