Air Forces Northern reports that it launched 150 fighter sorties, the bulk flown, as usual, by Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command aircraft, in the month of January. That brings the total number of fighter sorties flown since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to 35,350. AFNORTH has worked around the continued ground of about a third of USAF’s F-15 A-D model fighters. (See Data Points—Air Forces Northern Work Is Constant)
Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt took command of the F-35 Joint Program Office on July 5, succeeding Air Force Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, who is retiring. The succession of an Air Force PEO by another—breaking more than 25 years of back-and-forth joint leadership—may signal that the JPO is…