The last 
F-15 assigned to JB Elmendorf, Alaska, has left the base for good, flying to its new assignment with the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing in Westfield. This departure completed Elmendorf’s divestiture of its 24 F-15s as part of USAF’s combat air forces restructuring plan. F-15s had operated from Elmendorf since 1982, but with the departure of the 19th Fighter Squadron’s last F-15 on Sept. 24, Elmendorf’s fighter force now comprises exclusively F-22s. Under the CAF restructuring plan, the service is retiring approximately 250 of its oldest legacy fighters in Fiscal 2010. Just last week, the 325th Fighter Wing at Tyndall AFB, Fla., completed its F-15 drawdown. Similarly, the 1st FW at Langley AFB, Va., shed its last F-15s on Sept. 1. (Air Force photo release by A1C Christopher Gross) (See also Elmendorf report by SrA. Cynthia Spalding.)
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…