Combat experience with coalition special operations forces in Afghanistan exposed an inability of those ground troops to communicate with supporting USAF aircraft. To address that skills gap, Air Force Special Operations Command gathered special ops forces from several coalition nations for what AFSOC calls a Combined Special Operations Forces Subject Matter Expert Exchange, making it part of Emerald Warrior 07. The CSOF-SMEE—brainchild of MSgt. Gregory Smith with AFSOC’s 4th Special Operations Squadron—has been working for about five years on a small scale, but Emerald Warrior gave the command the opportunity to ramp it up. Instead of a typical one-week training event for two allied teams, the exercise brought in 100 participants from five countries for two weeks.
Lockheed Martin plans to enter the Advanced Tactical Trainer fray to supply the Air Force with a new jet to bridge between undergraduate flight instruction and fighter training units, but declined to say whether it will offer a T-50A derivative, a different non-developmental airplane, or a clean-sheet design. It's comments…