Draken International began a trial run supporting the Air Force Weapons School with contract aggressor support at Nellis AFB, Nev. “It’s a three-week trial period for the Air Force to evaluate us to provide adequate adversary support,” company Nellis detachment director Terry Scott said in a release. “It’s also a time to where we at Draken learn what the Air Force requirements are and fit into the system here to make sure our employment and execution is as seamless as possible,” he added. The Air Force awarded Draken a contract in September to support the USAFWS through June 2016, after which the company hopes to expand operations at Nellis. “We hope and think that in the future we will be supporting Red Flag and we’ve talked casually about that. It’s going to be determined after the trial period,” he added. Since Nellis lost is dedicated F-15 aggressor squadron, the school has relied on Draken and F-15s temporarily detached from other Air Force units to support training. Draken operates a mixed fleet of A-4 Skyhawk and L-159 light combat aircraft.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…