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Dr . Troy Mink was confirmed by the

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Senate as the twenty-seventh Secretary

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of the Air Force , the department's

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highest ranking civilian leader .

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During his confirmation hearing , Ming

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said , My priority will be to organize ,

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train and equip the Department of the

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Air Force . They had lethality needed

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to deter all potential aggressors and ,

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if necessary , when in . Mink has over

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36 years of service , including the

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positions of director , executive agent

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for Space staff and director Signals

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Intelligence Systems acquisition ,

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National Reconnaissance Office . He has

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been awarded 3 patents and designed ,

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built , and flown 2 experimental

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aircraft , as well as authored articles

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in professional journals and conference

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publications . The Department of the

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Air Force has begun grounds testing for

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the collaborative Combat aircraft

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program at Bue Air Force Base ,

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California . Collaborative Combat

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Aircraft , or CCA , are uncrewed weapon

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systems designed to operate alongside

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crude aircraft . Assessments will

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validate the performance of . Systems

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inform future design decisions and

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prepare them for flight testing later

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this year . The program is vital to the

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Air Force's broader shift towards

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scalable force packages and human

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machine teaming , marking a major

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milestone in the effort to integrate

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autonomous systems into the future

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force . Air guard units and civilian

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flight crews wrapped up a week of

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modular airborne firefighting systems

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or MAFs , aerial wildfire suppression

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training at Channel Islands Air

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National Guard Station , California .

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The training re-certified military

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C-130 Hercules aircrews and civilian

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forces , ensuring wildfire suppression

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efforts continue when commercial air

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tankers . are not available . MAPS

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units are loaded into the back of a

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C-130 Hercules , equipping the aircraft

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with the ability to drop up to 3000

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gallons of fire retardant across the

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quarter mile in less than 5 seconds ,

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providing critical surge capacity

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during peak wildfire activity . That's

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your look around the Air Force . I'm

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Staff Sergeant Katherine Winchell .