Capt. James G. Gallagher and a 13-man crew take off from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, in Lucky Lady II, a Strategic Air Command B-50A. They land 94 hours and one minute later, having completed the first nonstop flight around the world. The 23,452-mile flight requires four midair refuelings and demonstrates that distance and geographical barriers no longer offer sanctuary from airpower.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
