Officials at Columbus AFB, Miss., last week hosted a senior delegation of Saudi military officials who came to the US to gain a better understanding of how the Air Force trains its pilots. Maj. Gen. Al-Sedais, commandant of Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Air Academy, visited Columbus Dec. 2, along with five members of his senior staff, on the first stop of their tour. The Royal Saudi Air Force has begun sending some of its student pilots to the US for training as a means of expanding their understanding of American culture and working with an international partner. The Saudi students receive six months of intensive English language instruction at Lackland AFB, Tex., and then move on to Columbus for specialized undergraduate pilot training. (Columbus report by Capt. Marc Miedziak)
The Pentagon announced its latest drawdown package for Ukraine, valued at $1 billion and mainly comprising of munitions for key systems. But any decision on whether to provide the Ukrainian Air Force with Western combat jets is still to be made, a key Defense Department official told reporters—and it could…