The Active Duty F-16 detachment assigned to the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing was upgraded to squadron status in a ceremony at Truax Field, Wis., last month, officials announced. “We’re bringing back the history, we’re bringing back the comradery, but we aren’t changing how the 115th is organized,” 495th Fighter Group Deputy Commander Lt. Col. Joseph Rodriguez said in a Dec. 3 release. The newly reactivated 378th Fighter Squadron still falls under administrative control of the 495th FG at Shaw AFB, S.C. “This structure gives us the best of both possible worlds,” he added. The unit, which originally stood up as Det. 176 in February, augments the 115th FW in Madison with four Active Duty pilots and 40 maintainers as part of the Air Force’s overall Total Force Integration effort to inject active personnel into each reserve component fighter unit. The 378th FS activated at Truax on Nov. 8. Its heritage unit flew P-47s in the European theater of operations during WWII and inactivated in 1946.
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.