The Air Force plans to send a team to 10 bases to study the strains airmen face in working at a constant high pace with limited resources. “We are at war and [operations] tempo is very high,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III, head of manpower and personnel on the Air Staff, in a July 31 release. He added that the team from his staff would “gain vital perspective” to develop “viable solutions for the field,” such as streamlining unit programs and administrative processes. The bases to be visited are: Andrews in Maryland; Hickam in Hawaii; Kunsan in South Korea; RAF Mildenhall in Britain; Nellis in Nevada; Peterson in Colorado; Spangdahlem and Ramstein in Germany; Travis in California; and Yokota in Japan.
The Air Force demonstrated that it can operate the remotely-piloted MQ-9 Reaper in long-range flights in the Pacific using limited ground support gear and non-specialist ground personnel. The demonstration provided a boost for its agile combat employment concept, the service said Dec. 7. The deployment required only seven people and…