Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, USAF’s top personnel officer, told attendees Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that “there is no rear area of the battlefield today—we are all there.” To better prepare airmen for deployment to the battlefield, he said, all airmen now are being trained to carry, use, and maintain a gun, at all times. “Helping people stay alive is an important quality of life,” said Brady. The Air Force has extended basic military training for new recruits from 6.5 weeks to 8.5 weeks. And, before airmen deploy, they must go through a minimum of 19 hours of pre-deployment combat skills training.
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems matching $17.7 million contracts for an "Off-Board Sensing Station,” which is an unmanned aircraft that would extend a manned fighter’s sensing range and also potentially carry additional weapons for that aircraft. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts…