Officials
at Maxwell AFB, Ala., celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Air Force Officer Training School Feb. 5-7 with three days of events that drew several hundred alumni and guests. The school has been located at Air University’s Holm Center on Maxwell since September 1993 and now trains officers of the active duty and reserve components. But it opened its doors back in 1959 at Lackland AFB, Tex., with its first group of 89 trainees, Class 60A. The commemorative activities included a ceremony to honor the former OTS graduates who have been killed in combat, a tour of the OTS facilities, and a gala dinner. The Montgomery Advertiser reported Feb. 7 that the snow storm that pummeled the US East Coast Feb. 5-6 prevented Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz from speaking at the gala dinner on Feb. 6. (Maxwell report by Carl Bergquist)
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.