The Utah Air National Guard’s 151st Air Refueling Wing simultaneously staged a large mobility deployment exercise and an aircraft sortie-generation drill at Salt Lake City International Airport. More than 160 Air Guardsmen and approximately 120 palletized short tons of airfreight were readied for transport on short notice, and four KC-135 crews simulated a deployment during Exercise Double Whammy, held Aug, 5-7. Col. Kenneth Gammon, who commanded the exercise said, “This is the first time in years we’ve done it all, primed personnel, palletized cargo, and placed it all together to posture for deployment. These are perishable skills that we need to preserve.” (Salt Lake City report by SrA. Lilliam Harnden)
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.