The Air Force’s newest operational B-52 unit, the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, N.D., has arrived for its first deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam, since the unit was reactivated in September 2009. The squadron is replacing Minot’s 23rd BS for a five-month deployment in support of US Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence on the island, where it will fly training exercises with allies and the other services, according to Andersen officials. This marks the first time that one of USAF’s B-2 or B-52 wings has had two squadrons on back-to-back deployments in support of the CBP, they said. The power projection rotations to the Western Pacific, which B-52 and B-2 squadrons have performed since 2004, give USAF’s dual-capable bombers unique training opportunities not available at other locations, Brig. Gen. Timothy Ray, Air Force Global Strike Command’s operations director, said in a recent interview. (Andersen report by A1C Anthony Jennings)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
