Leaders turned the first shovel on the construction of a $22 million helicopter operations facility at JB Andrews, Md., Nov. 2. The building will bring the 1st Helicopter Squadron and the 811th Operations Support Squadron, both based at Andrews, under the same roof. “This project will make our airmen more efficient at a job they already excel at,” 11th Wing Commander Col. Brad Hoagland said in a release. “Pooling all of our resources and personnel for the 811th [Operations Group] just makes sense,” he added. The future two-story, 66,000 square-foot facility will include combined administrative offices, planning and briefing rooms, flight simulators, a fitness center, and other amenities, stated building contractor Haskell. Construction was slated to begin earlier this summer and wrap ?up at the end of 2016. The 1st HS, which is primarily tasked with executive airlift in and around the National Capital Region, flies the UH-1N helicopter.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
