Airmen from the U.S. Air Force‘s active-duty 388th and reserve 419 Fighter Wings have performed joint training exercises on F-35A, F-15C and F-15E aircraft variants at a military air base near Lakenheath, England.

The Air Force said Thursday that it conducted various sorties alongside members of the 48th Fighter Wing, the U.K. air force and other NATO allies.

Pilots from participating fighter squadrons have flown against each other as part of the training aimed to help fourth- and fifth-generation airmen exchange notes and prepare for potential air combat scenarios.

“We’ve been flying basic fighter maneuvers and air combat maneuvers, as well as air to ground missions,” said Lt. Col. George Watkins, an F-35 pilot and commander of the 34th Fighter Squadron.

“We fight air to air to get to simulated ground targets and once we take them out, we fight air-to-air to get back to our designated ‘safe’ zone.”

The Air Force noted the exercises marked the F-35A’s first flight training deployment to Europe.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has issued a memorandum that lifts all restrictions on civilian hiring across the Defense Department and instructed all DoD officials to carefully examine recruitment activities, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Jared Serbu writes Work noted the Feb. 1 guidance on civilian hiring freeze exemptions is no longer in effect and that senior department leaders should follow the Office of Management and Budget‘s new hiring guidelines.

The White House lifted the federal hiring freeze in April after OMB released a set of recommendations to downsize the federal workforce.

Work also identified three factors department officials need to consider when they consider to fill job vacancies such as whether the position includes duties that meet mission requirements or can be transferred to lower levels of an organization with lower pay and can adapt any appropriate changes, according to the report.

He also urged DoD managers to use temporary employees to fill urgent recruitment needs and restrict hiring within the Senior Executive Service to meet a provision in the 2017 defense authorization bill that requires department to cut SES positions by 25 percent through 2022, the report stated.

The U.S. Air Force held an inaugural training exercise last month to help warfighters prepare for operations, problem-solving missions and potential space conflicts, Space News reported Wednesday.

Phillip Swarts writes the Space Flag event is based on the Air Force’s annual four-part Red Flag exercise and trained airmen on how to manage different in-orbit scenarios.

“Space Flag is the initial step to developing an advanced training program that parallels Red Flag, which prepares our combat air forces for success in the air domain,” said Col. DeAnna Burt, commander of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, told Space News.

“We know we need new systems to battle manage and command and control at the operational and tactical level of space operations, and Space Flag will point the way to fully describing the capabilities those future systems must provide,” Burt added, according to the report.

The service branch hosts air combat training exercises among U.S. military units from the U.S. and its allies as part of Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work has said the U.S. military’s superiority over potential competitors is beginning to wane due to adversaries’ level of investment and efforts to close the operational and technical gap, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Work testified before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee during a hearing Wednesday alongside William Roper, director of the Strategic Capabilities Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Steven Walker, acting director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Work noted that artificial intelligence, autonomy and big data analytics will help the Defense Department operate stronger joint battle networks across all domains including cyberspace, electronic warfare and electromagnetic spectrum, Pellerin reported.

He added DoD must identify challenges that hinder the testing of new technologies.

Roper told the subcommittee that SCO re-imagines currently fielded military technologies in a push to create new functions and “regain the element of surprise,” according to report.

SCO works to evolve DoD’s playbook by updating systems to cross or blur domains; teaming systems to develop new warfighting concepts; and adapting commercial designs and technologies, Roper said.

Walker testified that DARPA’s work in the ares of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, material science, electronics and engineering could help make U.S. the source of “strategic surprise,” Pellerin wrote.

He noted his written testimony describes more than a dozen examples of DARPA technologies that are transitioning to the military, the report stated.