The Princeton Review has named the US Air Force Academy one of the nation’s top 50 public colleges for 2009 in terms of value, based on surveys of administrators and students at hundreds of schools. “The Air Force Academy is honored to earn this distinction,” said academy dean Brig. Gen. Dana Born in a USAFA release Jan. 8. She continued, “It is further recognition of the great effort we are making in providing cadets not just with a world-class education, but a full spectrum of learning experiences.” (Link to list; requires free registration.) The Princeton Review has also crowned the academy the nation’s No. 1 college for professor availability for the past four years and has highlighted its academic strengths, such as a student-faculty ratio of 8:1.
The Air Force is upgrading some 70 MQ-9 Reapers to a new configuration that will keep the type capable and relevant to the near-peer fight for another 15 years. It awarded General Atomics a $272.3 million contract to enhance the Reaper's weapons, electric power, connectivity, and resistance to jamming, among…