The first three Afghan airmen to undergo specialized undergraduate pilot training in the United States graduated at Laughlin AFB, Tex. “I’m proud of my country and proud of the United States government, especially the Air Force, for providing this opportunity for our dreams to come true,” said one of the Afghan lieutenants who received his wings on Dec. 18. Selected from among more than 350 candidates, the airmen completed a year’s worth of intensive English language courses at JB San Antonio, Tex., before stepping onto Laughlin’s flight line. Over the last year, each flew roughly 200 hours in the T-6 Texan II, which amounted to more than 140 sorties. “Now I’m going back to Afghanistan with my wings as an official pilot,” summed one of the airmen. Upon returning to Afghanistan, all three pilots will begin advanced training on the C-27A airlifter. (Laughlin report by 2nd Lt. Angela Martin)
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
