Hanscom AFB, Mass., is serving a major hub once again this year for US Joint Forces Command’s annual coalition warrior interoperability demonstration that began yesterday and runs through June 29. Hanscom is the lead Air Force site for the two weeks of activities that brings together the US services with various civil agencies and coalition partners to investigate and assess command and control, communications, computers, and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance technologies for potential solutions to near-term capability gaps through realistic simulations of real-world scenarios. This year Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are participating. “We fight as a joint and coalition team and interoperability is critical to our success,” said Col. Jeff Hodgdon, director of the 653rd Electronic Systems Wing’s enterprise integration division at Hanscom. He is serving as combined forces air component commander for the demo. This year’s activities feature, for the first time, one, continuous nine-day scenario with no repetition. (Hanscom report by Chuck Paone)
Juneteenth Holiday
June 17, 2021
President Joe Biden on June 17 signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day, designating June 19 a national holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States 156 years ago. With June 19 falling on a Saturday this year, the federal government will observe the holiday June…