The Air National Guard has opportunities to leverage the civilian employment of its members in new and emerging missions, such as cyber defense and remote piloted aircraft operations, said ANG Director Lt. Gen. Bud Wyatt last week. Air Guardsmen could train and drill up in a mission, then go in for the normal work week at their civilian job and use those same skills, he said in remarks Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Wyatt noted, for example, how US Customs and Border Patrol is paying attention to where the Air Guard is bedding down its RPA as the civilian agency establishes its own RPA force to patrol the country’s borders. Much like the Air Guard’s support of the Forest Service in fighting fires and the National Science Foundation in supplying Antarctic research, there is potential for interagency synergy with RPA, he said.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
