Members of the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Air Field near San Jose, successfully demonstrated a prototype network-enabled situation awareness system for personnel recovery for the first time at US Joint Forces Command’s Bold Quest exercise. The wing sent 23 airmen and an MC-130P rescue aircraft to the coalition-centric exercise, which took place Oct. 27 to Nov. 5 at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C. They flew eight missions with the MC-130P acting as the airborne mission commander during the simulated recovery missions. The aircraft carried a data link capability evaluated in April that allows for the integration of air and ground forces during recovery operations. So-called “digitally aided personnel recovery” goes beyond the constraints of voice-only communications that rapidly become saturated during intense rescue operations due to the volume of information being passed, according to wing officials. (Moffett report by Capt. Alyson Teeter)
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…