An Electronic Systems Center team is busy incorporating technical improvements and lessons learned from this summer's Empire Challenge to improve intelligence distribution, processing and inter-service sharing.
Empire Challenge 2009 was a global test event, with more than 2,000 participants from seven countries, plus NATO. Many of those participants spent much of July verifying the interoperability of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance processing; exploitation; and dissemination capabilities with the Distributed Common Ground System, or DCGS, family of systems.
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It was Jan. 24, 2008. Hawg 13 flight, a formation of two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, launched from the safety of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, into the overcast darkness of a crisp winter night in northeast Afghanistan. More than 115 miles to the east, a friendly armored convoy slowly made its way through the forbidding expanse of land near the Pakistan border.
As Hawg 13 checked on station, one pilot noted that mountains filled the scenery with snow capped peaks collapsing down steep ridge lines into the valley below. Through his night-vision goggles, one of the pilots could see the convoy proceeding southeast along a ridge line in one of the world's most treacherous landscapes. Clouds swallowed the mountain tops as they blanketed the area, reducing visibility for the two pilots.
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An Air National Guard program designed to cut through bureaucracy has led to safety solutions for problems as vast and varied as avian flu, pilot fatigue and reducing the carbon footprint.
Five years ago, some Guard members deployed to Iraq brainstormed to share tactical data in a new way using secure computer technology. The result was Project Black Mountain, a program that improved combat safety and led to the creation of the Disruptive Solutions Process, which cuts through bureaucratic static that can bury good ideas and prevent critical problems from surfacing.
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Twenty communications Airmen stationed in Germany took part in a training exercise Sept. 18 to 24 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in preparation for the largest transformation in the history of Air Force communications which is to be completed this October.
When it's all said and done, more than 27,000 enlisted Airmen will transition from 15 communications Air Force Specialty Codes to 11 new cyberspace support specialties designed to help Air Force operators face future challenges of working in and protecting a cyber environment.
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The all-call came over the Air Force Theater Hospital loudspeakers at 11:45 a.m. Sept. 17 here. It wasn't an emergency, but it prompted dozens of staff members to stop what they were doing and make their way to the long exit hallway. Smiling and chatting, they began lining up on the walls.
Over in the intensive care ward, a 14-year-old Iraqi boy was gingerly settling into a wheelchair.
With a doctor rolling him along and his father by his side, Ahmad rounded the corner, turned down the hallway and broke into a grin. He raised his hand and waved at all of the medical professionals who were waiting -- for him.
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Department of Defense police at Naval Air Engeneering Station Lakehurst and Fort Dix will merge into the Air Force security forces squadron at McGuire Air Force Base effective Oct. 1 as part of an ongoing joint base effort. Officials said this merger will ensure a seamless and secure transition to the new Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which the Air Force will lead.
"We are currently identifying the best practices from each organization and applying those practices where feasible," said Master Sgt. Robert Richards of the 87th Security Forces Squadron Joint Base Integration Office. "The emphasis must always be placed on the protection of resources and security of the entire joint base community."
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Coalition airpower integrated with ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations Sept. 28, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II and coalition aircraft flew armed overwatch in the Farah area. Once on station the aircraft saw intense action as there were several engagements between friendly forces and anti-Afghan forces. Friendly forces reported and confirmed enemy fire from a treeline sniper position and from several buildings located in a compound area. When shows of force did not work in stopping the enemy fire, precision-guided munitions and strafing runs of cannon fire were combined to end the enemy fire. The enemy then retreated to a nearby Mosque to avoid further air strikes.
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A toddler's first artistic expressions often surface in the form of well-intended wall defacement or notepad squiggles -- but every now and then, a doodle becomes a hobby, and that hobby becomes a part of history.
Staff Sgt. Austin May, a public affairs craftsman from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, found himself in that position when Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz approved the design of a new set of wings to be worn by future unmanned aircraft system pilots who have not attended undergraduate pilot training.
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The commander of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center recently instituted the use of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century process improvement tools across AFOTEC to improve the operational test and evaluation planning processes here.
"The primary goal of our reengineering efforts is to eliminate waste in all of our processes and buy back time to allow our team to spend more time on substance and less time on form," said Maj. Gen. Steve Sargeant, AFOTEC commander. "The AFSO21 event allowed our team to identify waste in our early test processes and eliminate it.
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Continuing a program started in 1944 by Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold, Air Force leaders leverage the best minds in the nation to lasso innovation ahead of the curve.
"It takes all of us to conceive, comprehend and take action on the ways and means of today and of tomorrow," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, talking to members of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board Oct. 8, 2008. "And the Air Force must continue our tradition of leading the way in technological innovation."
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