Officials are slated to break ground May 1 at Dover AFB, Del., for a new Fisher House that will be dedicated to families of fallen service members. Dover is home to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, which operates DOD’s sole Port Mortuary. Currently family and friends who travel to Dover to witness a Dignified Transfer are housed in local area hotels. Todd Rose, the center’s mortuary affairs division director, said, “Our mission is two-fold: dignity, honor, and respect to our fallen service members and care for their families.” President Obama donated $250,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money to the Fisher House organization, which said in a release the money would fund facilities at Dover—an eight-bedroom facility expected to be completed this fall—and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. (Dover report by A1C Matthew Hubby) (Also see Fisher House Web site)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.