Gen. Mieczyslaw Cieniuch, Poland’s highest ranking military officer, made an official visit to the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing at Tucson International Airport, inspecting the training and facilities used there to instruct Polish and other foreign pilots. “We’ve trained F-16 pilots from Poland here since 2004, and it’s an honor to show their senior leaders first-hand the quality of our training wing, our personnel, and our equipment,” said 162nd FW Commander Col. Michael McGuire. Accompanied by Poland’s defense attaché to the United States, and its deputy chief of operational planning, Cieniuch met with Polish student pilots and flew in one of the wing’s F-16 simulators. The Polish dignitaries also met with base and local leadership during the stopover on Jan. 12. Before visiting Tucson, Cieniuch received the US Legion of Merit from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey in Washington, D.C., for fostering US-Polish cooperation. (Tucson report by Angela Walz)
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…