Airmen from Keesler AFB, Miss., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif., have joined forces to create an ICBM maintenance virtual trainer—Air Education and Training Command’s top nuclear training priority—for use in courses at Vandenberg. Members of Keesler’s 81st Training Support Squadron’s simware section and Vandy’s 532nd Training Squadron are involved in the project. “IMVT addresses certain training shortcomings by providing critical training instruction [for] Vandenberg’s missile maintenance officer course,” said Ronald Washburn, 81st TRSS simware development section chief. Final delivery is scheduled for late 2012, but the two units are making elements of IMVT, such as a voice-over-Internet-protocol telephone system, simulated radio, and digital clocks, available beforehand. This new training resource is expected to cost about $800,000, much less than the $3.6 million estimate had a civilian contractor supplied it. (Keesler report by Susan Griggs)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.