About 1,400 US and foreign militar
y forces will descend upon Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force Bases for the April 16 to May 1 iteration of Red Flag-Alaska (RF-A). French units will join NATO and US forces in this Pacific Air Forces-directed training event that offers offensive counter-air, interdiction, close air support, and large force employment training, played out over the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range. (For more on RF-A, read Air Force Magazine’s Red Flag Over Alaska) Part of the RF-A mix will be USAF’s new F-22 Raptor, which, according to a new Popular Mechanics article, means the guys in the fourth-generation fighters “die wholesale.” The article zeroes in on airmen from the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing on their final deployment with the wing’s F-16 Vipers, this time in training at Nellis AFB, Nev. The unit shed its first two fighters last fall as it began the transition to an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle mission. (Elmendorf report)
The Department of the Air Force has identified 50 programs that will make up the core of its contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control effort, branding them part of the “DAF Battle Network,” according to newly-released budget documents. The DAF Battle Network programs span multiple offices and agencies…