Air Force officials launched construction projects last week at Kadena AB, Japan, and the Air Force Research Lab’s research site in Rome, N.Y. Kadena officials on Aug. 10 held the groundbreaking for the new Erwin Professional Military Education Center that will bring the base’s NCO academy and airmen leadership school under one roof when completed in May 2010. On Aug. 12, officials with the AFRL’s Information Directorate held a ceremony in Rome to mark the start of construction to add 28,000 sq. ft. to the directorate’s existing complex and alter an additional 18,600 sq. ft. of existing facilities to accommodate new laboratory and support facilities. (Kadena report by report by TSgt. Rey Ramon and Wright-Patterson photo caption.)
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.