US airmen at RAF Fairford are now cleaning up after monsoon-like downpours in England in the last week caused about $200,000 worth of flood damage to the base’s facilities. The estimate includes 10 facilities and eight housing units as well as minor flood damage to RAF Welford, reports Stars and Stripes. Had base personnel not used sandbags and barriers to divert the heavy rainfall on July 20, nearly every house in Fairford’s 84-unit housing area could have flooded.
A record investment in research and development by the Department of the Air Force will help the United States win the long-term technology race with China, even while shrinking the fleet size before a possible mid-decade Taiwan contingency, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May 17. “With the Air Force,…