The Israeli air force undertook evaluations of the MV-22 Osprey on a 10-day visit to MCAS New River, N.C. While there is no “procurement process on the table” as yet, the IAF is “looking at the aircraft, trying to understand how the Osprey can contribute to our operational requirements,” explained IAF Lt. Col. Nimrod Golan, who led the evaluation team during the June 13-23 visit. After an orientation on the V-22 in May, Golan and IAF Lt. Col. Avi Carmeli returned to New River with a seven-man test team to conduct a “variety of flights in order to operationally evaluate the aircraft,” noted Golan. Following simulator training, the experienced IAF team put the aircraft through a rigorous regime of combat and confined space landings, low-altitude and formation flight, as well as night and air-to-air refueling operations with a KC-130J tanker. (New River 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…