Lt. Col. Michael Means, who has accumulated the second most flight hours of any pilot in the B-2 stealth bomber, is retiring from the Air Force after 23 years of service, according to a release. Means, chief of safety with the Missouri Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., has logged 1,765.8 hours in the B-2 over 12 years, according to a June 5 base release. For the first eight of those 12 years, he was on active duty with the base’s 509th BW. “There are only four pilots who have ever reached 1,500 B-2 hours, none of whom is still flying the B-2,” said Lt. Col. Michael Pyburn, 131st Operations Group commander.”To say that I’ve flown one of the world’s premier aircraft is exciting,” said Means, who began his career flying B-52s and has amassed 4,466 total flying hours in various aircraft, according to the release. (Whiteman report by SSgt. Sean Navarro)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
