Roger That: Air Force devises warning system about ‘active shooter’ situation

Can the police be notified quickly — and the people inside a building warned — when an active shooter fires a gun?

That's the challenge an Air Force team tackled in a government competition to find inventive solutions to problems, according to Air Force Times.

Called the “Defense, Diplomacy, and Development Innovation Summit Pitch Challenge,” or “D3 Innovation Summit” for short, it’s a collaboration between the Defense Department, State Department, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Active Shooter Protection team was one of two groups of airmen who were selected out of 500 submissions to come to Washington in March for the inaugural event and present their ideas before top leaders from all three agencies.

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Stars and Stripes is reporting that 16 U.S. Navy ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan’s nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes.

In all, 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi, the name given for the U.S. humanitarian aid operations after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tsunami, whose waves reached runup heights of 130 feet, crippled the Fukushima plant, causing a nuclear meltdown.

In the years since the crisis, the ships have undergone cleanup efforts, the Navy said, and 13 Navy and three Military Sealift Command vessels still have some signs of contamination, mostly to ventilation systems, main engines and generators.

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The Air Force is paying for engine maintenance for the C-17 Globemaster III without any idea if it’s getting a fair price, a new watchdog report said, as quoted in an Air Force Times article.

“Air Force officials awarded the…base contract without obtaining sufficient data to determine whether the Air Force purchased the F117 engine sustainment services provided by Pratt & Whitney at fair and reasonable prices,” said the investigation by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General.

The exact amount the Air Force paid for the sole-source contract between fiscal 2012 and 2014 is redacted, but the IG’s report says that it’s in the billions.

The F117 engine is a military version of the Pratt & Whitney PW2000 engine used to power Boeing 757 aircraft. The Air Force currently has 1,200 of the engines for 222 C-17s, the IG said. Each plane flies on four of the engines.

Investigators said the Air Force didn’t do its due diligence before handing the defense contractor money for the Globemaster III Integrated Sustainment Program (GISP).

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A small change in Marine Corps uniform policy now will allow women with some chest tattoos to enlist, according to an announcement from a Maine lawmaker, according to Military.com.

Rep. Chellie Pingree wrote Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller in February on behalf of Kate Pimental of Kennebunk, Maine, who wanted to enlist but was disqualified because of a tattoo that arched below her collarbone. Pimental, she said, met all other requirements for enlistment but could not obtain a tattoo waiver because of existing regulations.

Because female Marines were not permitted to wear crew-neck undershirts with their uniforms unlike their male counterparts, Pingree said, the regulations unfairly discriminated against some women.

"Male recruits get a waiver when they have a tattoo like Kate's because they can wear a T-shirt that covers it up," Pingree wrote in the letter. "But because the Marine Corps uniform for women is cut lower, the same tattoo on a female recruit effectively keeps her from enlisting. That's not right and it keeps smart, capable women like Kate from being able to serve her country."

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Roger That: Air Force devises warning system about ‘active shooter’ situation."