An airborne laser destroys an aerial target for the first time when the Airborne Laser Laboratory (ALL), a modified KC-135 aircraft armed with a carbon dioxide laser, shot down a drone over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Two years later, the ALL successfully shoots down five Sidewinder air- to-air missiles, proving its utility as an antimissile system.
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.
