The Bell-Boeing team has delivered the first combat-configured CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft to Air Force Special Operations Command. Getting the keys to the new Osprey was Lt. Col. Jim Cardoso, commander of 71st Special Operations Squadron, which will use the new special ops aircraft for aircrew training at Kirtland AFB, N.M. At a March 1 ceremony at the Bell assembly center in Amarillo, Tex., Maj. Gen. Donald Wurster, AFSOC vice commander, called the CV-22 “the single most significant transformation” for special ops since introduction of the helicopter. AFSOC expects to field the CV-22 by 2009.
A B-52H bomber launched a simulated AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response hypersonic missile at a target some 600 miles away during the ongoing Northern Edge exercise in Alaska, the Air Force said. The simulated shot was a success and demonstrated Airborne Battle Management System techniques to facilitate the kill chain for…