More than a dozen airmen from the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 245th Air Traffic Control Squadron at McEntire JNGB, S.C., deployed to Iraq on Oct. 9. The South Carolina controllers are deploying for six months in conjunction with the Mississippi Air National Guard’s 248th ATCS in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to a 169th Fighter Wing release. The approximately 30 airmen will provide precision approach capabilities and air navigation systems so aircraft can navigate and land in bad weather. Lt. Col. Craig Hummel, commander of the 245th ATCS, said the squadron hasn’t been tasked with performing the mission outside of the continental United States in many years, and that it’s “good to know the atrophy hasn’t set in and these people are raring to go,” according to the release.
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…