The Air Force dismantled Cold War-era SR-71 hangars at Beale AFB, Calif., according to base officials. “From a historic point of a view, it is sad to see them go, but from a mission standpoint, we can [now] support the current airframes,” Robert Nordahl, 9th Civil Engineer Squadron program flight chief, told the Daily Report on Aug 14. RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft and U-2 surveillance airplanes operate today from the California base, which is north of Sacramento. Workers began taking down the hangars in June. As of Aug. 2, only two remained, according to a Beale release. Until workers dismantle them, they will support the Global Hawks and U-2s, said Nordahl. SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft operated at Beale from 1966 to the late 1990s. Removing the hangars is part of Beale’s ’20/20 by 2020″ initiative that aims to reduce the base’s excess infrastructure capacity and operating costs by 20 percent by 2020. (Beale report by SSgt. Robert M. Trujillo) (See also Beale Demolishes Cold War-Era Fuel Storage Tanks.)
The Air Force has dispatched an element of its Natural Disaster Recovery Team to Guam in the wake of Super Typhoon Mawar, which has caused widespread damage on the island and at Andersen Air Force Base. The team will assess the damage and put together a recovery cost estimate for…