The Pentagon on Jan. 29 identified the two airmen killed in the Jan. 27 crash of an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node aircraft in eastern Afghanistan. They were: Lt. Col. Paul K. Voss, 46, of Yigo, Guam, and Capt. Ryan S. Phaneuf, 30, of Hudson, N.H. The E-11A went down in Ghazni Province and officials have said there is no indications the incident was caused by enemy fire. US forces recovered their remains from the crash site on Jan. 28, and destroyed the aircraft.
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten on Jan. 29 provided a nugget of insight into how the Pentagon will structure its first budget request for the Space Force since the new service was created in December, saying the process will shed light on previously hidden parts of the military space enterprise. Setting up a budget that adequately reflects the Defense Department’s space investments will be one of the hardest challenges for the military as it stands up the Space Force, Hyten said at an Air Force Association breakfast on Capitol Hill.
With two pre-solicitations, the Air Force has begun the process of buying the first eight F-15EX fighters, meant to complement the existing fleet of aging F-15C/D fighters. The new jets will have General Electric F110-129 engines, and USAF is also looking to "refresh" its F-15C/Ds as well.
March ARB, Calif., will help with the quarantine of Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, after the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the Pentagon announced Jan. 29. The base will house almost 200 US citizens—Department of State employees, dependents, and other Americans—who left the country this week. The Department of Health and Human Services will quarantine and evaluate personnel. Military personnel will not be in direct contact with the evacuees, and they will not have access to any base location other than assigned housing.
The Pentagon now says 50 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the Jan. 7 ballistic missile attack on al-Asad AB, Iraq. Of those, 31 were treated in Iraq and have returned to duty; 18 were transported to Germany for treatment, and nine of those returned to the United States for continued treatment. One was taken to Kuwait and has returned to duty. The updated tally is a “snap shot in time” and could change, the Pentagon said in a statement. The Defense Department initially said no one was injured in the attack and later updated that number to 34.
