bergman@afnews.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman) (06/15/91)
From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.af.mil>
354. Georgia murder
355. B-2 flight
356. New cruise missile
357. Intelligence command
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354. Georgia murder
MOODY AFB, Ga. (AFNS) -- A 32-year-old F-16 crew chief, whose wife is
missing, was charged with the murder of a retired Air Force first sergeant
June 4, a base spokesman said.
Sgt. Donald T. Crowder was apprehended June 4 by security police for
allegedly firing a .38-caliber pistol several times on the Moody flight line.
Base officials then turned Sergeant Crowder to the custody of Lowndes County
Sheriff's Department in Valdosta, Ga., who charged him with the same-day
shooting of retired MSgt. Wilton A. Marcengill.
Sergeant Marcengill, 46, was found dead in a ditch in northern Lowndes
County. Lowndes County sheriff's investigators said he died from gunshot
wounds to the head and body.
Sergeant Crowder's wife, Felecia, was reported missing following the
incident and, despite an intense search, her whereabouts are still unknown,
investigators said.
No one was injured and no aircraft damage has been discovered related to
the flight line shooting incident.
Sergeant Crowder, assigned to the 68th Tactical Fighter Squadron, has
been in the Air Force for 10 years and at Moody for about two years, base
officials said.
Simultaneous investigations of the murder, shooting and missing wife are
being jointly conducted by Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents
and their counterparts with the sheriff's department.
355. B-2 flight
by SSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
ANDREWS AFB, Md. -- Its profile was at first lost in heavy gray clouds,
but then -- like a stalking bat -- the B-2 stealth bomber dropped its
gracefully sculpted wings onto the flightline, successfully completing its
first cross-country flight June 5.
"Once it goes past, there's not a lot to see. That's one of the things
that makes it stealthy," an Air Force spokesman said to the awe-inspired
spectators gathered on the flightline.
The B-2 marked its longest flight since the first prototype first flew on
July 17, 1989. The June 5 flight from the flight testing center at Edwards
AFB, Calif., lasted five hours.
The bomber was flown to Andrews to join other stealth systems at a
special Air Force event, "Stealth Week," June 10-14.
The program is designed to give Congress and members of the press a
firsthand look at the Air Force family of stealth weaponry: the B-2 bomber, F-
22 Advanced Tactical Fighter, F-117 fighter and the Advanced Cruise Missile.
An essential element of these new weapons, stealth technology, has
already been proven in the Persian Gulf War by the F-117's ability to baffle
the Iraqi air defenses and hit targets without losing a single aircraft.
The Air Force believes these stealth systems will provide that edge in
the 21st century, and wants Congress to continue funding them in the
Pentagon's budget request for the 1992 fiscal year.
Stealth Week events are not open to the general public.
356. New cruise missile
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The existence of a previously classified cruise
missile, designed to hit high-value enemy targets with precision accuracy, was
announced by the Air Force June 6.
The new Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile features stealth technology
and is being developed for Air Force and Navy fighter bomber aircraft,
including the B-2, B-52, F-16, A-6 and F/A-18. The weapon can also be fired
from the Army's ground-based multiple-launch rocket system.
Pentagon plans call for production of 8,650 missiles at a total
production cost of $15.1 billion.
TSSAM will be able to strike land and sea targets from standoff range
using its autonomous guidance to deliver conventional munitions.
The ground version of the TSSAM is designed to strike groups of targets
such as moving armored vehicles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
The missile weighs about 2,300 pounds and has a range of more than 100
miles. It can carry a single or multiple conventional warhead payload.
TSSAM's performance features incorporate stealth technology to enhance
survivability, allowing it to penetrate enemy air defenses as it navigates to
and attacks intended targets.
"It's always been planned for the B-2," Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams
said June 6. "It was kept a secret largely because of the stealth
characteristics of it. That's its principal classification requirement."
With the Air Force as the lead service, the TSSAM program is managed by a
joint Army, Navy and Air Force program office at the Aeronautical System
Division, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
TSSAM has been in development since 1986, the Air Force said.
357. Intelligence command
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force Intelligence Command, which provides
direct intelligence support to Air Force, joint and allied commanders, and
national agencies, is being formed and is expected to be activated Oct. 1 at
Kelly AFB, Texas, the Air Force said June 6.
Integrating the current Air Force intelligence functions into one command
will result in enhanced intelligence support to theater commanders for
carrying out their wartime responsibilities, Air Force Secretary Donald B.
Rice was quoted in an Air Force news release.
Customer support will be improved because the new organization will offer
a single focal point across intelligence disciplines. With the integration of
these disciplines into one command, intelligence specialists will gain broader
experience across various intelligence areas related to the Air Force's combat
missions.
AFIC will consolidate people and missions of the Air Force Foreign
Technology Division, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, the Air Force Special
Activities Center, Fort Belvoir, Va., elements of the Air Force Intelligence
Agency, Washington, D.C., and the Electronic Security Command at Kelly.
Approximately 17,000 people will be assigned to the new command. Some
positions which would duplicate functions at the headquarters will be deleted
from some of the organizations being gained, the Air Force said.
These losses are expected to be absorbed through attritions and
retirements, officials said.
--
bergman@afnews.af.mil
Air Force News Center
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA