Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma was one of the sites hard hit this week by high winds that knocked out power and damaged trees and buildings and left the flightline littered with debris. Members of the Civil Air Patrol flew damage assessment sorties, enabling photography of the base and southwest Oklahoma. Altus airmen volunteered by the hundreds to clear the flightline and aid the Altus-area communities with cleanup. “We really had more volunteers than we could use, and within a few short hours we were conducting our flying mission again,” said Col. David Allvin, 97th Air Mobility Wing commander. And, in Indiana, hard hit by recent flooding, the Indianapolis Star reports that a West Virginia Air National Guard RC-26 aircraft flew June 12 from the Indianapolis airport to take high-resolution aerial photos to help assess damage, continuing work begun by the Indiana CAP Wing. Indiana Air and Army National Guardsmen also have been aiding relief work in the state. (Altus report by Michael Fletcher)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.