N
ew Portable Maintenance Aids at one of the Air Force’s premier technical training centers are simplifying F-22 Raptor maintenance to the point that—with a click of a computer key—a single maintainer can consult aircraft tech data and click another key to open or close weapons bay doors and extend launchers for inspection, reports A1C Jacob Corbin. “Maintainers can plug the PMA into the aircraft and review aircraft consumables for proper servicing, diagnose problems, download fault codes, and perform APU [auxiliary power unit] ground operation,” said TSgt. John Jefferson, an F-22 crew chief instructor with the 362nd Training Squadron at Sheppard AFB, Tex. Jefferson is helping set up the new F-22 initial skills maintenance training in the base’s new $21 million Raptor Maintenance Training Facility. The facility has high-tech classrooms featuring mock-up trainers—a total of eight—with fully functional aircraft elements, such as the cockpit, landing gear, and engines. Sheppard plans to begin its first classes for Raptor maintainers in January 2008.
DNI: Cyber Is The Common Weapon Among Top Adversaries
April 17, 2021
The top four U.S. adversaries--China, Russia, Iran and North Korea--are improving their military capabilities but relying increasingly on cyber means to challenge the U.S. and blunt its influence around the world, the intelligence community's annual threat assessment says. The report comes amid military tensions with both China and Russia.