Air Mobility Command has named Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins to command 18th Air Force, Scott AFB, Ill. Currently Hawkins is director of operations at AMC headquarters. He is a 1973 West Point graduate and a bomber pilot whom, in 1994, flew as instructor pilot on a 47-hour, around-the-world, non-stop B-52 flight. He has commanded the 319th Air Refueling Wing, 89th Airlift Wing, and the Tanker Airlift Control Center.
The Air Force plans to complete testing of a full-scale blended wing body cargo/tanker aircraft within four years, according to the department’s new Climate Action Plan. The demonstrator could be a prototype for a future operational mobility aircraft or family of aircraft, and the plan suggests the Air Force may…