Officials elevated the range detachment in charge of Avon Park Air Force Range, Fla., to full squadron status, activating the 598th Range Squadron in a Sept. 22 ceremony there. The squadron designation “honors the memory of the WWII airmen that trained in this location” flying B-26s of the 598th Bomb Squadron, Commander Lt. Col. Kevin Beeker said in a release. “In many ways, our mission is unchanged from WWII: to give our troops the toughest possible training so that they are ready to face our nation’s enemies,” he added. The 598th RANS controls the 160,000-acre range adjacent to MacDill Air Force Base in central Florida, but reports to the 23rd Fighter Group at Moody AFB, Ga., according to the release.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.