Page 1 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt, February 2020
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“We train the world’s greatest fighter pilots and combat ready Airmen”                                                               February 2021
                                                                                                                                                  Vol. 20, No. 2


               INSIDE                          Spark Tank 2021 finalists announced





                                                                                                                                     by
             StorIES                                                                                                SeCReTARY oF The AiR FoRCe

             Key spouse program, 2                                                                                              Public Affairs
             F-35s, F16s train daily, 3                                                                        ARLiNGToN, Va. — It’s been nearly a year since
             Military tax services, 4                                                                         Master Sgt. Gabrial Valenzuela, Capt. David Coyle and
                                                                                                               Lt. Adam Treece were selected as co-winners of Spark
             Virtual to reality: F-35A,                                                                       Tank 2020 for their Smart Weapons Loading Checklist
               B-2, 5                                                                                          and Low-Cost Threat Emitter concepts.
                                                                                                                Now, with 2021 underway, Air Force and Space Force
             DoD-level maintenance                                                                            leaders have selected five more ideas from the Spark
               award, 6
             New RTT initiative, 8-9                                                                                                     See finALists, Page 12
             Chaplain’s thoughts, 10                                                                          The Spark Tank trophy is back up for grabs at this
             Medical ops during Desert                                                                        year’s Air Force Association Virtual Aerospace War-
               Shield, Desert Storm, 13                                                                        fare Symposium Feb. 26. At last year’s event, Airmen
                                                                                                               shared the trophy after Air Force and industry leaders
                                                                                         Staff Sgt. James Richardson  declared a two-way tie.

                                               Thunderbolt Spark Cell ignites Airmen innovation




                                                        by Staff Sgt.          bring opportunities and resources to
              Continue to get Luke’s latest          AmBeR CARTeR              Thunderbolt Nation and will foster
               news and information from                                       your ideas on how to accomplish our
               these sources: https://www.         56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs   mission in innovative ways.”
               aerotechnews.com/lukeafb/         In August 2020, Air Force Chief   Capt. Christopher Dylewski, 56th
                 https://www.luke.af.mil       of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr.,   FW Commander’s Action Group of-
                   and social media            released his strategic approach en-  ficer and Thunderbolt Spark  Cell
                                               titled “Accelerate Change or Lose,”   director, is leading the charge by
                                               and followed this statement up in   establishing the cell at Luke AFB.
                  Luke56thFW      @LukeAFB
                                               December 2020 with action orders   “The Spark Cell is a one-stop shop
                Date of publication            that represent his call to Airmen to   for Airmen,” said Dylewski. “We ex-
                                                                               ist to make the lives and service of
                  First Friday                 move forward aggressively in the   Thunderbolt Nation better and will
                                               push toward change “allowing more
                    of the month               space for innovation.”          do that by collecting ideas, getting
                                                 Luke Air Force Base answered   after them in innovative ways and
               Submission deadline             that call to action with the creation   bringing outside resources into Luke
            15th day of the month              of the Thunderbolt Spark Cell, of-  to work on solutions.”
                                                                                 A direct approach, and allowing
           prior to date of publication        ficially announced Jan. 5.      space for innovation means less                         Airman 1st Class Leala Marquez
                                                 “It is our job as senior leaders
                Veterans                       to make it as easy as possible for   hurdles and more freedom for ideas.  First Lt. Adam Treece, 56th Operations Support
                                                                                                               Squadron intelligence readiness chief, and Capt.
                                               those of you who want to make a
                                                                                 “The Spark Cell will report di-
                                               positive difference for our Air Force   rectly to Gen. Kreuder, but will   David Coyle, 56th OSS weapons officer, test a proto-
                   Tell us Your Story          and our fellow Airmen,” said Brig.   have support from AFWERX,” said   type threat emitter system Jan. 17, 2020, at Luke Air
             Active-duty, Reserve, Retirees    Gen. Gregory Kreuder, 56th Fighter   Dylewski. “AFWERX is an Air Force   Force Base. Treece, Coyle and Wylie Standage Beier,
           All military branches are included  Wing commander. “To that end, I   entity that expands technology, tal-  Arizona State University electrical engineering PhD
            Email name, phone number and a     have directed the establishment   ent, and transition partnerships   student, made the project ‘Making Waves,’ to create a
           brief description of your service to  of a 56th FW innovation unit, the   with outside organizations in or-  low-cost, mobile threat emitter system to be used in
                amy@aerotechnews.com           Thunderbolt Spark Cell.                                         training for fifth-generation aircraft. The team is one
                                                 “The Thunderbolt Spark Cell will       See innovAtion, Page 12  of six finalists in the annual Spark Tank competition.









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