The F-22 schoolhouse at Tyndall AFB, Fla., flew its 25,000th Raptor sortie since it began instructing F-22 pilots more than 10 years ago, according to a base release. An F-22 with the 43rd Fighter Squadron flew the milestone sortie on Oct. 7 during an air combat training mission with other F-22s and T-38s from the base, states Tyndall’s Oct. 9 release. “This number marks the accomplishment of producing many students to move on into combat-coded units, which in turn provides the top cover to the men and women on the ground fighting the war,” said MSgt. Jamie Leach, 43rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit lead production superintendent. The 43rd FS, a component of Tyndall’s 325th Fighter Wing, is the Air Force’s sole flying squadron for training F-22 pilots. “We couldn’t have achieved this landmark, if it wasn’t for the years of hard work and the support of all the units on base,” said Capt. David Delmage, 43rd FS instructor pilot and flight commander. (Tyndall report by SrA. Christopher Reel)
Special-ops aviators, a physicist from the intelligence community, and an enlisted Marine with decades of deployments: U.S. Space Command’s military and civilian leaders who spoke May 7 were as likely to come from strictly space backgrounds as not. These are some of the day’s insights from inside the command, which…