The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing, which transitioned from the F-16 fighter to the MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer remotely piloted aircraft, conducting its first Reaper mission in Afghanistan in December 2009, will be converting to an attack wing, according to a New York National Guard release covering a visit to the unit last week by Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, NGB chief. (Note: USAF activated its first modern-day attack unit—a Reaper unit—at Creech AFB, Nev., in 2006.) The last of the 174th’s F-16s left Hancock Field in March. Last fall, Hancock also became home to the field training detachment that provides MQ-9 maintenance training for active and reserve airmen. (NYNG report by 1st Lt. Greta Lewis)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
