The Air Force has reduced its overall attrition rate among airmen attending explosive ordnance disposal training by 16 percent in the last year, thanks in large part to the 2011 overhaul of its preliminary screening course, according to EOD training officials. Airmen entering the EOD career field now attend a 20-day screening course—up from just six days before the overhaul—at Sheppard AFB, Tex. The course is designed to challenge airmen mentally and physically and help identify the best candidates. Those who advance move on to Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin AFB, Fla., where personnel from all four US military branches receive training in recovery, evaluation, and safe bomb disposal operations. Since the screening course revamp, washouts among airmen at NAVSCOLEOD have fallen 41 percent and self-eliminations have dropped 33 percent, according to an Aug. 6 Eglin release. EOD candidates “are much more aware of what they are getting into on the combat side of the house, the missions they will be running, and whom they will be working with,” said SSgt. Daniel Sepsey, EOD instructor in the Navy-run school’s demolitions division. (Eglin report by Dan Hawkins)
RTX, parent of Raytheon, Collins and Pratt & Whitney, is getting out of the space prime business and focusing on its "strengths" as a maker of space sensors, buses, and components, company COO Chris Calio said during an earnings call.