Pacific Air Forces has just completed its Cope West bilateral tactical airlift exercise between USAF and Indonesian forces. More than 60 Indonesian jumpers and four USAF airmen parachuted from tactical airlifters each day. The activity also included night flying, something Lt. Col. Dave Kincaid, commander of the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan, said hasn’t been done “in decades.” He added, “We were able to do some night vision flying and complete tasks that we weren’t able to do before and with that alone, this exercise has been a huge success.” The exchanges were two-way, improving airlift, airdrop, and airland operations “should there ever be a disaster that needs us to work together,” said Kincaid. Col. Djoko Senoputro, Halim AB, Indonesia, commander, praised the Yokota airmen, saying, “We learned a new technique with the [container delivery systems] from what we were using.” (Also see April 26 report, April 22 report, April 21 report by TSgt. Cohen Young; April 20 report by 1st Lt. John Harden)
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…