Air Force Secretary Michael Donley approved the posthumous promotion of Capt. Lucas Gruenther, who died in an F-16 training mishap last week, to the rank of major, according to 31st Fighter Wing officials at Aviano AB, Italy. “Major Gruenther earned his promotion during a board in late 2011 and had been waiting to pin on his new rank,” states a Feb. 1 post at the wing’s Facebook page announcing the promotion. Gruenther, the wing’s chief of flight safety, took off from Aviano on Jan. 28 on a nighttime training mission over the Adriatic Sea. Base officials lost contact with him and a search ensued. An Italian vessel recovered his body on Jan. 31. The Air Force is investigating the cause of the mishap.
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....