Pararescuemen of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron performed a live demonstration for engineers and scientists at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, who are looking to improve the equipment that the combat rescuers use. Extracting a mock victim from a representative Humvee, the PJs provided the 711th Human Effectiveness Directorate a place to begin. “By viewing the demonstration from a lab perspective, our scientists and engineers can determine if there is a better way for the PJs to perform any part of their mission,” explained Randy Mieskoski, manager of the Specialized Warfighter Operations Research Development program. “Maybe we know of a technology that exists that can be adapted.” The directorate recently expanded its work, which formerly concentrated on improving the effectiveness of joint terminal attack controllers, to include pararescue. (Wright-Patt report by Elizabeth Long)
The U.S. has approved a $310.5 million Foreign Military Sale to provide Ukraine with maintenance and training for its F-16 fighter jets, the State Department announced May 2. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has been sending retired F-16s to Ukraine to be used for spare parts.