Some 200 airmen and 10 A-10s from the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing left Selfridge ANG Base northeast of Detroit to train at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., according to a unit release. This two-week deployment is part of Operation Snowbird, under which northern-tier Air Guard units have the opportunity to drill in warm-weather conditions in southern Arizona during the winter months. “Training at Davis-Monthan in Snowbird is like a scrimmage before playing in the big game,” said Lt. Col. Shawn Holtz, commander of the wing’s 107th Fighter Squadron. “Everybody gets a chance to sharpen their skills and build up the team,” he said. The Selfridge airmen departed for Arizona on Jan. 23; they will focus on search-and-recovery training during their stint at Davis-Monthan, states the release. While there, they will be able to nearly double their normal daily sortie rate.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
