Reaching The Ship’s Remote Location Required Three Helicopter Air-To-Air Refuelings

The Air Force Reserve Command’s 920th Rescue Wing successfully conducted a tricky civilian medical airlift operation of a critical patient aboard a cruise ship located more than 350-nautical-miles off the eastern coast of the United States May 4. Within hours of the call, the 920th RQW prepared and launched a rescue force consisting of two HH-60G Pave Hawks, two HC-130J Combat King IIs and two teams of combat rescue officers and pararescuemen to fly to the ship’s position and safely extract the patient for transport to the nearest capable medical center. “Everyone in the wing mobilized with exceptional speed," said Capt. Dylan Gann, 301st Rescue Squadron pilot.

Marks The 80th Anniversary Of D-Day, Includes Aircraft From Georgia, Texas, And Arizona

This May brings several opportunities to experience meticulously restored World War II aircraft in person at Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK). The aviation event series, marking the significant 80th Anniversary of D-Day, includes aircraft from Georgia, Texas, and Arizona. “This is an amazing opportunity for aviation enthusiasts, history buffs, and family members of World War II veterans to experience a unique array of historic aircraft within a month in Atlanta,” said Airbase Georgia Leader Joel Perkins.

Deal Encompasses Aerovel And Its UAS Flexrotor

Airbus has completed the acquisition of US-based Aerovel and its unmanned aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor. Flexrotor is a small tactical unmanned aerial system designed for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions at sea and over land. "We see more and more armed forces and parapublic agencies around the world looking to investigate how unmanned aerial systems can strengthen their intelligence and surveillance capabilities. The Flexrotor, as a vertical takeoff and landing UAS, fits into our strategy to expand our UAS offerings..."

 General Atomics Begins Integrating Fancy Software Capabilities to MQ-9A

 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has embarked on a partnership with Shift5, allowing them to integrate that firm's "onboard onboard cyber anomaly detection and predictive maintenance capabilities" to USSOCOM's MQ-9A Reaper UAS. The Shift5 partnership will "assure AFSOC and SOCOM mission readiness and cyber survivability" by way of some nifty software. Shift5 is understandably vague about the specifics, merely saying that they give "real-time, data-driven insights needed to predict and schedule maintenance effectively, helping avoid critical failures before they happen and ensuring the safety and performance of critical fleets." 

Yearly Training Adventure Warms Everyone Up for Summer

As the nation heads full tilt into spring, the northern Coast Guard stations bone up on their rescue ops as they ready themselves for an active Alaskan summer. This year's SAREX was, like so many others in a long string of yearly outings, successful at warming up everyone involved. "The 2024 SAREX enhanced collaboration among different organizations and first responders united by a shared objective of saving lives," said Capt. Vincent Jansen, commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. "Ongoing cooperation and understanding of each other's strengths are essential for overcoming potential challenges and during this SAREX we accomplished that. We are constantly humbled by our partner agencies and we look forward to hosting more training evolutions like this in the future."