Members of the 535th Airlift Squadron from JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, joined forces with the Navy’s Special Warfare Unit One from Guam to drop a 19,000-pound, rigid-hull inflatable boat from the back of a C-17 transport. Airmen utilized the maritime craft aerial delivery system, or MCADS, to dispense the boat during the January drill. “With today’s military going joint, it is essential that we merge our technologies and capabilities,” said SMSgt. Chuck Baker, plans and programs superintendent and airdrop loadmaster with Hickam’s 15th Wing. He added, “Each branch has their own specialties, but we need each other to make the overall mission a success. This is why the training in Guam was so important.” MCADS is designed to enable covert delivery of the specially designed boat without detection by enemy sensors or patrols. (Andersen report by SSgt. Mike Meares)
The Air Force will look to the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in a closed solicitation that will create the Air Force's first university-affiliated research center (UARC), Air Force leaders said. The center will study tactical autonomy. The DAF will select the center's location from one of 11…