The 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing at Langley AFB, Va., in early June inactivated three of its detachments and, in their place, activated three intelligence support squadrons. The new units are the 792nd ISS at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, 693rd ISS at Ramstein AB, Germany, and the 694th ISS at Osan AB, South Korea. They provide communication, computer, maintenance, and logistics support to the Air Force’s distributed common ground system, a network of worldwide hubs that processes, analyzes, and disseminates imagery and signals intelligence products to warfighters. The squadrons’ activation standardizes DCGS operations under the wing, Langley officials said. This move is part of the broader, continuing transformation of the Air Force’s intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance enterprise. (Langley report by Marge McGlinn) (For more on DCGS and the ISR transformation, see ISR Revolution from the June issue of Air Force Magazine.)
Denys Overholser, the Lockheed Martin engineer whose insights on the mathematics of radar cross section led directly to the first operational stealth attack airplane and permanently reshaped combat aircraft design and tactics, died April 28 at the age of 86.