The Air National Guard should remain in the unmanned aircraft systems business, says Col. Bob Becklund, chairman of the Air Force’s UAS weapons system council and commander of the 119th Wing in Fargo, N.D., one of the Air Guard’s four MQ-1 Predator units. Despite the challenges of learning the unmanned aerial vehicle technology, along with the cultural changes associated with operating them over Afghanistan and Iraq while sitting at control consoles back in the United States, UAVs represent “the way of the future,” says Becklund. Already the four Air Guard units provide a total of eight continuous combat air patrols of Predators in Southwest Asia, almost one quarter of the Air Force’s total. And this fall, the first Air Guard MQ-9 Reaper unit, the New York ANG’s 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field in Syracuse, will be operational. (NGB report by Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke)
Now Enlisted Airmen Can Stay in Uniform Longer
Dec. 8, 2023
The Air Force is extending the amount of time Airmen can spend at most enlisted ranks by two years, as the service looks to combat sluggish recruiting and balance its force structure. The High Year of Tenure (HYT) program sets limits on how long service members can spend in each grade…