Air Force officials recently stood up the F-15C active associate unit that will support the F-15C/D schoolhouse that the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing runs at Klamath Falls, according to the wing’s January newsletter. “It’s very invigorating; this is the first active association for the F-15C in the Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Chris Clark who last month took command of the newly minted Active Duty 56th Operations Group, Det. 2. The Air Force is injecting 84 Active Duty airmen to increase pilot production at the service’s sole F-15C/D schoolhouse. The first of them arrived late last year and the detachment will swell to eight pilots, 68 maintenance personnel, and eight support airmen by spring. (See also Kingsley Field Ramps Up for Expanded Mission.)
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.