A specially formed team from the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group at Tinker AFB, Okla., have rapidly devised and validated a streamlined process for aircraft mechanics at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center to enter information on their daily tasks that inform unit planning and funding. During the first two weeks in July, for instance, the group recorded more than 24,000 of these so-called time-and-attendance transactions. Maj. Gen. David Gillett, commander of the Tinker depot, said the return on investment from the new process, which includes adding additional computer terminals and reconfiguring applications, is “remarkable” and could potentially “save millions” of dollars for the taxpayer. (Tinker report by Robert Walsh)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.