The Fr
ench Air Force’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operational Squadron, with its MQ-1 Predator-like UAVs, supports coalition and International Security Assistance Force operations in Afghanistan from Bagram Air Field. The unit, which is the only such squadron in the French Air Force, has several dozen airmen deployed to Bagram to fly, maintain, and monitor the intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms the French airmen have dubbed “Harfang.” EADS developed the UAV, which is based on an Israeli Aircraft Industry Eagle drone, for the French Ministry of Defense. (Bagram report by TSgt. John Jung)
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…