Airmen and F-16s of the 23rd Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem AB, Germany, have taken over NATO’s air policing mission for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, replacing German Fighter Wing 71. NATO units have been providing routine air defense—on three-month rotations—for the three Baltic states, since Lithuania joined the alliance in March 2004. Poland will replace the Spang unit in January.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…