Retired Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Mikolajcik, who last served as the Air Staff’s director of transportation and was a member of the C-X Task Force that led to development of the C-17, died April 17 at age 63 after a battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1969 and over his career flew the C-9, C-17, C-130, and C-141 airlifters. Among his assignments, he served in Air Staff and NATO positions, was project officer for a Congressionally directed mobility study, and commanded two airlift wings, one at Ramstein AB, Germany, and one at Charleston AFB, S.C., where he established the first C-17 squadron. (Also read JB Charleston report by Rose Alexander; WCSC-TV report)
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.