Air Force medical personnel are working with researchers at the University of Cincinnati to understand how providing medical care in the darkened, noisy, moving environments of military aircraft affects the body and what may be done to offset those effects, said Lt. Gen. Charles Green, Air Force surgeon general. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel earlier this month, Green said clinical studies are also examining the amount of oxygen to give patients at higher altitudes during aeromedical evacuations. The Air Force also has recently fielded a device to improve spinal immobilization for AE patients, he said. Together with the Army, USAF medical personnel also are testing equipment to improve areas like ventilation, fluid resuscitation, and physiological monitoring in critical care air support, he noted. (Green prepared remarks)
A semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone shot down an air-to-air target in a Dec. 8 test supported by the U.S. Air Force, a notable milestone in the development of the loyal wingman-type drones that will join the fleets of the USAF, other American services, and allies and adversaries.
