Officials with the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., held a dedication ceremony on June 11 to welcome a YF-22, a prototype of the F-22 stealth fighter, into the center’s museum. “This Raptor is a great addition to our museum here, and will be a crowd-pleaser,” said Fredrick Johnsen, AFFTC Museum director. The aircraft’s arrival was a homecoming of sorts since it was the first YF-22 built in Lockheed Martins’ nearby Plant 42 in Palmdale and it flew all of its 43 test missions at Edwards. It spent the past several years on temporary display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The Raptor was ferried on a C-5 transport from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to Edwards. Maintenance personnel tore down the aircraft for the trip and then rebuilt at Edwards. (Edwards report by Stephen K. Robinson)
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.