Officials at Tyndall AFB, Fla., redesignated the 325th Air Control Squadron, the Air Force’s air battle management schoolhouse, as the 337th ACS. The name change marked the unit’s transfer from Tyndall’s 325th Fighter Wing to the oversight of the 33rd FW at Eglin Air Force Base, also in Florida’s Panhandle. The squadron will remain a tenant at Tyndall; neither its mission nor its training tempo will change, according to Tyndall’s Oct. 4 release. “The overall goal is to do this seamlessly without any effect on mission effectiveness and without a hiccup,” said Navy Capt. Michal Saunders, Eglin’s 33rd Operations Group commander, who presided over Tyndall’s Oct. 4 redesignation ceremony. The transfer occurred because the 325th FW, which oversees the Air Force’s F-22 schoolhouse, is transitioning from Air Education and Training Command to Air Combat Command with the addition of a combat-coded F-22 squadron. Meanwhile, the air control squadron is remaining under AETC with the move to the 33rd FW, which is home to the initial joint F-35 schoolhouse. (Tyndall report by SSgt. Rachelle Elsea)
The nation needs a better-coordinated policy for dealing with unmanned aerial systems that threaten domestic bases, Air Force vice chief of staff Gen. James C. Slife told a panel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He and Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante co-chair a panel looking at counter-UAS…