Sixteen months ago, 35 percent of 7th Bomb Wing B-1 bomber sorties never made it off the runway at Dyess AFB, Tex. Sorties that did, lifted off an average of two-and-a-half hours late, prompting a top-to-bottom scrub of 31 key policy areas. “Plain and simple, we weren’t flying enough sorties,” explained Col. Gerald Goodfellow, 7th BW vice commander. “B-1 maintainers were producing the maximum level of sorties they could, but even at our maximum sortie generation, their output wasn’t meeting the requirement.” Switching aircraft from two sorties per day to a single sortie cut time wasted in minor maintenance, and scrubbing sorties delayed by more than two hours keeps later sorties from being postponed. “For the first time that I can remember, we are flying 100 percent of the sorties contracted,” summed Col. David Béen, 7th BW commander. (Dyess report by A1C Charles Rivezzo)
Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Pentagon, spent his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 19 pressing his civilian bona fides to lawmakers, with some pledging opposition to the waiver Austin would need to become the nation’s first Black Defense Secretary. Austin spent 40 years in the military…