In one of the fastest program to develop and field a weapon in modern history, Air Force Systems Command’s Armament Division asks the Army to machine eight-inch cannon barrels to the shape of a bomb. On Feb. 24, the first of these Lockheed/Texas Instruments GBU-28/B bombs is tested at Tonopah Test Range, Nev., and penetrates so deeply, the weapon is never found. Within five hours of delivery to Saudi Arabia, two of the 4,700-pound weapons are dropped from an F-111 on Feb. 27.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
