On Oct. 1, officials of the newly formed McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base in New Jersey heralded the arrival of the first tri-service facility. The first commander of the joint base—a BRAC 2005 amalgam of McGuire Air Force Base, Ft. Dix, and NAES Lakehurst—Air Force Col. Gina Grosso told the assembled politicians, service officials, and members of the workforce that the new construct has “the ability to take the best practices of each base and apply them across what will now be one installation; for every installation management function, we have the opportunity to look at three unique ways of doing business and creating a new process that takes the best of the three.” (JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst report by Stephen Snyder and TSgt. Denise Johnson; also see Associated Press report and Philadelphia Inquirer report)
As the threat of Iranian-made drones grew, the Air Force rushed last year to equip F-15E Strike Eagles in the Middle East with a cheap, cost-effective way of defeating them. The service fielded the new capability in roughly a week.
