R.I.P. - Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo

DOD Identifies Army Casualty

                 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

                Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., died April 25, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from small arms fire.  He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

                For more information related to this release, the media may contact Special Forces public affairs at 910-689-6187.

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A Green Beret from Simi Valley, Andrew Britton, was killed Wednesday in Afghanistan. Craig Mathias, who with his wife, Danette, cared for him during his senior year at Royal High School, confirmed the news Thursday.
The Department of Defense has so far not released any information or confirmed Britton's death. Britton — known as Andrew Mihalo when he lived in Simi Valley — was 25. He was raised in Simi Valley and stayed on to complete high school there after his mother and stepfather moved out of state.
His mother now resides in North Carolina, while his sister, Michelle Caranza, lives in Simi Valley.
Britton last visited Ventura County in November with his fiancee, Jesse, also a soldier believed to now be serving with the Army in Afghanistan. The couple married in December and they were based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Craig Mathias said Britton, who was a champion CIF wrestler at Royal and an Eagle Scout, joined the Army Special Forces right out of high school and advanced quickly. He was always fighting for the underdog and very patriotic, fearless but not reckless he said. He was very humble, just a great, great person. We were as close as friends could be. We were like brothers, said Travis Mathias, 24, who knew Britton since he was 9 years old. He was the smallest guy but the hardest worker, he said. He was just the nicest guy in the world and he loved to protect others.

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F-35 Local Area Flights Could Start This Week

Image via Wikipedia

By DAVE MAJUMDAR - DefenseNews

F-35A Lightning II local area flights might start as early as this week at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Fla., an Air Force source said. Such flights would commence once the Air Force issues a military flight release (MFR).

The Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base might issue such a military flight release as early as this week, sources said.

According to Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) chief engineer Doug Ebersole, an Air Force airworthiness board declared the F-35A as being compliant with its Tailored Airworthiness Certification Criteria on Feb 23, which is a crucial step in granting a formal MFR.

The declaration means the Air Force is satisfied that its version of the aircraft, the F-35A, is safe to fly. It also means that the Air Force understands and accepts the risks where there are gaps in the jet’s compliance with service airworthiness regulations, Ebersole said.

A MFR would allow qualified F-35 test pilots to begin flying the stealthy fifth-generation fighter around the Florida base. Eglin currently has two test pilots who are qualified to fly the jet: Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith and Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann.

Once those local area flights prove that the aircraft and maintenance procedures at Eglin are robust enough to sustain a full-scale training course for transitioning instructor pilots and students, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) will start the syllabus.

Smith and Bachmann will act as the initial instructors for the rest of the cadre at the 33rd Fighter Wing. The three services have selected some of the best, most experienced pilots to form the initial batch of instructors at Eglin.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has also cleared the Marines’ F-35B short take-off vertical landing jets to operate at Fort Worth, Texas, where the planes are built.

However, the sea service requires an additional independent safety audit before fleet pilots are allowed to fly the aircraft, Ebersole said.

“We expect that to happen in the mid-to-late March timeframe,” he said. “Probably late March.”

After the audit, Marine pilots, who fall under NAVAIR’s purview, will be able to start training along side their Air Force brethren in their F-35B model jets next month.

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