Air traffic controllers at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, are now using a system called Merlin to help aircraft operating from the base avoid birds during takeoff and landing. Merlin is an all-weather, portable S-band radar system that is able to scan the skies around the base for miles. “We are giving the pilots and the ground crews a little more atmospheric awareness, and that is important,” said Ron Merritt, president of DeTect, the company that produces the radar. Bagram is the first air hub in a combat zone to use Merlin, and it has had the highest bird-strike rate of all USAF bases in the region. Merlin’s data are fed into a computer system that calculates the height and distance of any birds in the area. This allows controllers to notify aircrews of potentially deadly hazards. (Bagram report by SSgt. Richard Williams)
An F-16 pilot was awarded a Silver Star for a harrowing mission in which he dodged multiple surface-to-air missiles during the opening weeks of the operation against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year.
