Talk about a dramatic rescue. Members of the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield came together with Marine Corps and Coast Guard units and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., from April 1-4 to save an injured man aboard a sailboat 1,400 miles out to sea from the southern California coast. The AFRCC coordinated the rescue, which saw 129th RQW pararescuemen fly April 1 on a Coast Guard HC-130 out to the sailboat and attend to the injured man. A San Diego-bound merchant ship arrived on the scene after midnight on April 2 to pick them up. Meanwhile a task force of two 129th RQW HH-60 helicopters, one MC-130P, and one Marine KC-130 took off April 3 to meet up with the merchant ship, retrieve the patient, and bring him to a San Diego hospital. (Tyndall release)
CSAF: F-22 Not in USAF’s Long-Term Plan
May 12, 2021
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. wants to neck down the Air Force's fighter inventory from seven fleets to four, and the F-22 is not on his short list. The extant seven-fleet mix of fighters will need to be reduced to “four, … plus one,” Brown…