The first 15 of USAF’s new breed of dedicated Air Liaison Officers last week completed their 13-day joint air and space operations training provided by Air Force Warfare Center’s 505th Command and Control Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla. This training for the ground-breaking ALO class—comprising newly commissioned officers, Air National Guardsmen, and prior enlisted Tactical Air Control Party airmen—will enable them to “understand the systems and procedures to best support the Army,” said D.L. Hendricks, course director and instructor and himself a former TACP. The Air Force departed this year from previous policy of using only rated officers on temporary assignments to fill ALO slots, creating the dedicated 13L ALO field and expects to establish a 70 percent career to 30 percent rated temporary ratio of ALOs. (505th CCW release)
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.…