Roughly one-third of airmen at Aviano AB, Italy, failed the Air Force’s new fitness assessment in July. Out of 319 airmen who took the test, 104—or 32.6 percent—didn’t pass. TSgt. Adam Salonish, Aviano’s fitness assessment cell noncommissioned officer in charge, said the failure rate “is, in reality, lower” than expected. “The expected rate was 35 to 40 percent,” he said. “However, nearly 33 percent is still high, and the base is doing as much as possible to bring it down.” The Air Force’s new fitness program took effect July 1. Airmen now are required to take the PT test twice a year instead of once annually. They must earn a minimum amount of points in each section—aerobic, waist measurement, sit-ups, and push-ups—to pass. Doing proper push-ups appears to be the biggest challenge. (Aviano report by A1C Katherine Windish)
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
