The Air Force’s RC-135 Rivet Joint force now can claim to have been continuously deployed for 6,000 days. Last fall, we noted that one of the airmen who maintain this high demand/low density electronic reconnaissance aircraft has deployed 18 times to Southwest Asia since 1993. Over the years, the Air Force has upgraded the Rivet Joint, giving the 1960s-vintage platform new engines, updated cockpit avionics, and improved mission equipment, which enables the Cold War warrior to switch from strategic to tactical support—talking with warfighters on the ground—on a single sortie.
KAENA POINT SPACE FORCE STATION, Oahu, Hawaii—At the rocky edge of a cliff on Hawaii’s Oahu island are poised three antenna dishes that rotate with the sun. Together, they form part of a global network to warn warfighters of solar activity that can disrupt radio signals and potentially send false…