T
he Arizona Air National Guard formally activated its newest unit this week—the 214th Reconnaissance Group based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It will be the latest guard unit to fly Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. Arizona Air Guardsmen have been flying aircraft over Iraq and Afghanistan since July, the Arizona Daily Star reports, but will eventually have dedicated aircraft based at nearby Ft. Huachuca and will grow from about 75 personnel to more than 120. Eventually, officials plan to bring about a dozen aircraft to Arizona, with pilots and support personnel split between D-M and Ft. Huachuca in Sierra Vista.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China military briefing Oct. 27, part of a bi-weekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonics weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…