Three airmen died Tuesday when their U-28A aircraft crashed during a training flight near Cannon AFB, N.M. The unnamed, Active Duty airmen were flying a routine training sortie when the aircraft went down at about 6:50 p.m. near Clovis Municipal Airport, said 27th Special Operations Wing Commander Col. Benjamin Maitre. Local first responders and civic authorities responded to put out a fire at the scene of the crash. The wing temporarily grounded all flights after the crash, with most of those flights resuming Wednesday, Maitre said during a press conference. The 318th Special Operations Squadron, which flies the U-28, remained grounded. The Air Force has launched an investigation into the crash, and the names of the airmen will be released 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified. “We at Cannon AFB are a tight-knit installation and wing focused on getting the mission done and obviously any time an incident like this occurs it hits us hard,” Maitre said.
The nominee to lead U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency touted the value of the organizations’ dual-hat command structure and urged caution toward creating a dedicated cyber military service in written testimony to Congress released Jan. 15.
