Air Force rescue personnel deployed to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, from Pope AFB, N.C., on June 9 carried out the first-ever joint aeromedical evacuation mission with British medical teams on “non-validated casualties.” Their actions helped save the lives of three US airmen who were injured in the crash of an HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter earlier that day in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. That same crash claimed the lives of four other USAF rescue personnel. Non-validated means a patient whose transport has not yet been approved via the normal procedures. By bypassing the normal steps, the joint team was able to act much more quickly, They were dispatched on an Air Force HC-130P aircraft to retrieve two of the three injured airmen. The rescuers delivered life-saving and condition stabilizing care aboard the aircraft. A second mission evacuated the third airman. (June 28 Pope report by 1st Lt. Cammie Quinn)
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.