Air Force Global Strike Command recently demonstrated Northrop Grumman’s AN/ASQ-236 Dragon’s Eye, a podded active electronically scanned array radar, on a B-52 bomber, according to a command release. The radar “enhances the B-52’s ability to operate in both contested environments and adverse weather conditions,” said B-52 Requirements Branch chief Maj. Brett Plummer. “The radar’s high-resolution mapping enables target detection, tracking, and subsequent engagement in situations where our existing electro-optical targeting pods cannot,” he said. Today, F-15Es operate with Dragon’s Eye. AFGSC conducted the demo with a B-52 assigned to Air Force Reserve Command’s 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, La. Pacific Air Forces is interested in this capability and intends to exercise the B-52 with it during September’s Valiant Shield exercise, states the June 26 release. “This Dragon’s Eye effort demonstrates AFGSC’s ability to continue to increase B-52 lethality during lean fiscal times and present capable forces to our combatant commanders,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, AFGSC commander. (Barksdale report by A1C Jannelle Dickey)
Members of Congress from both parties expressed frustration and dismay over the abrupt and still-unexplained firing last month of Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh from his dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.