An Air Force historian is compiling data on every US bombing mission since World War I in order to pinpoint the geographic location, historical progression, and strategic effects of US bombardment writ large. “What if you had the detailed data on when and where every bomb was dropped from an airplane in combat? What would you know?” asked Lt. Col. Jenns Robertson, the missileer and researcher spearheading the Theater History of Operations Reports project, reported the Boston Globe. Though Robertson is still gleaning data from myriad Defense Department records, he says his data base has already proven invaluable. The computer data drawn from millions of DOD period reports are plotted on a satellite map, making the map an ideal tool to aid ordnance cleanup in Vietnam, for example, according to the July 30 report.
The Air Force is placing Air Combat Command in charge of teaching combat tactics to fighter and remotely-piloted aircraft units, according to a May 12 announcement. Beginning this summer, the service will reassign the formal training units for the F-35, F-16, and MQ-9 from Air Education and Training Command to…