Concerned over repeated Syrian violations of Turkish territory in Syria’s civil war, NATO’s foreign ministers agreed during a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to augment alliance member Turkey’s air defense capabilities by deploying Patriot missiles there. “Turkey has asked for NATO’s support, and we stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during a Dec. 4 press conference, according to an alliance release. He added, “To the Turkish people, we say, ‘We are determined to defend you and your territory.’ To anyone who would want to attack Turkey, we say, ‘Don’t even think about it.'” The United States, Germany, and the Netherlands expressed their intent to provide the Patriot missile batteries, which will be under the operational control of NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe once deployed, states the release. (Includes AFPS report by Nick Simeone) (See also Obama Warns Syrian Regime on Chemical Weapons.)
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…