The 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineering Group recently completed a weeklong deployment to Qayyarah West Airfield, Iraq, to perform additional repairs on the runway there. The 1st ECEG, which is based at al Udeid AB, Qatar, initially repaired the runway after coalition forces recaptured it in October 2016 from ISIS, who had used explosives to destroy it. Since then, Qayyarah has been a key logistics hub for coalition forces fighting to recapture Mosul from ISIS control. “We are making expedient repairs to the airfield to keep it operational for the western Mosul offensive,” said MSgt. Eric Rau, 1st ECEG engineer, in a press release. “We are going out and repairing damaged concrete on the airfield that has had some degradation and making those repairs so that we can ensure the safety of the aircraft.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth vowed to undertake far-reaching reforms on the way the U.S. military buys weapons, promising a sweeping overhaul of the way the Defense Department determines requirements, handles the acquisition process, and tests its kit. The fundamental goal, which Hegseth underscored in a 1-hour and 10-minute speech…
