TSgt. Justin Jackson over the course of 15 deployments and seven years has amassed more than 2,000 combat flying hours. He is a cryptologic linquist with the 42nd Electronic Combat Squadron, a dedicated EC-130H Compass Call training unit at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., and made his record flight on July 15 while deployed to Afghanistan with the 41st Expeditionary ECS, according to a July 21 release from Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Jackson flew his first combat sortie in October 2001 at the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. “I think it is fitting to hit this milestone in the same airspace that I started; it’s kind of brings it full-circle,” said Jackson. He noted that about 25 percent of the airmen in his field reach the 2,000-hour mark or better. (Bagram report by SSgt. Rachel Martinez)
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.