WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decades-old recovery mission in Alaska reached its long-awaited end this month as the Air Force announced the positive identification of all 52 service members lost in a 1952 crash on Colony Glacier, even as Pentagon leaders used a series of high-profile appearances to press a broader message: move faster, field technology sooner and strengthen the industrial and operational backbone of the force.
Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, working with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, said the remains of all 52 who died when a C-124 Globemaster II struck Mount Gannett on November 22, 1952, have now been identified. The joint effort known as Operation Colony Glacier began in 2012, as shifting ice gradually brought wreckage and remains back to the surface, enabling recovery teams to locate, retrieve and repatriate them.
“Reaching this point — identifying all 52 of our fallen service members — represents the highest fulfillment of our sacred duty to bring our fallen home,” said Air Force Col. Martha Sasnett, commander of Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations.
Col. Andrew Rohrer, director of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, said the identifications relied on advanced DNA analysis and forensic methods. With the mission milestone achieved, the Air Force said it is assessing whether to formally close Operation Colony Glacier, citing an absence of evidence that additional remains or material will emerge from the glacier.
The announcement landed amid a rapid-fire stretch of Pentagon activity centered on technology, industrial capacity and operational readiness.
In Texas, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told defense workers at Lockheed Martin’s Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth that the department’s priority is capability and speed rather than corporate brand names, urging industry to “go fast” as competitors build at record pace. At SpaceX headquarters in Starbase, he announced Cameron Stanley as the next chief digital and artificial intelligence officer and said the department will begin tracking “AI deployment velocity” metrics for pace-setting projects within 30 days, with monthly reporting thereafter.
Hegseth also described a “barrier removal SWAT team” intended to waive nonstatutory requirements and elevate issues that slow fielding, and he said the department will pursue expanded computing power, including data centers on military installations. He framed “responsible AI” as “objectively truthful” systems used securely and within governing laws, and said the department will treat “data hoarding” as a national security risk, directing service leaders to submit catalogs of current data assets within 30 days. He also said Grok, from xAI, is expected to be added to GenAI.mil later this month, expanding the department’s AI tools available to personnel.
Separately, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said it made its first acquisition under the Replicator 2 initiative, awarding a contract for two DroneHunter F700 systems expected to be delivered by April. The task force said the purchase is aimed at countering the threat from small unmanned aerial systems and is part of a broader push to rapidly field counter-drone capabilities for installations and critical infrastructure.
Beyond the Pentagon’s technology push, several operational and partnership initiatives were also highlighted in recent announcements.
U.S. Central Command and regional partners opened a new coordination cell at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to enhance integrated air and missile defense planning, exercises and threat warning. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the Centcom commander, called the new Combined Defense Operations Cell a “significant step forward” in strengthening regional defense cooperation.
In Arlington, Virginia, Hegseth hosted Japan’s defense minister, Shinjirō Koizumi, at the Pentagon for a bilateral meeting in which both leaders praised the U.S.-Japan alliance and emphasized deterrence through realistic training and exercises. The visit included a morning physical training session with members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
In Pennsylvania, Air Force Reserve airmen from the 911th Airlift Wing conducted required water survival training at Montour High School in McKees Rocks on January 10, practicing underwater egress, raft deployment, parachute disentanglement and teamwork scenarios designed to prepare aircrew for downed-aircraft survival situations.
In Germany, airmen from the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Ramstein Air Base conducted a subject matter exchange with the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force from January 6 to January 9, focused on interoperability, equipment familiarization and low-light medical scenarios intended to mirror operational conditions.
In the maritime domain, the Coast Guard said the cutter Alert returned to Cape Canaveral, Florida, after a 45-day counter-drug patrol in the Windward Passage, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The crew interdicted a suspected smuggling vessel, seizing 2,250 pounds of cocaine valued at $18.4 million, seven pounds of marijuana valued at $7,000 and an illegal firearm, and transferred four suspected smugglers to the Bahamas government for prosecution. The crew also supported joint training engagements with Panama and hosted counterparts during port calls, while noting the patrol included a crossing of the equator, where some members earned “shellback” status.
On the research front, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory highlighted a remote sensing experiment designed to improve AI applications in hyperspectral imaging, with the goal of sharpening detection and identification in coastal and aquatic environments and producing datasets to be shared with the broader research community.
And far from the battlefield, a multiagency partnership took aim at ecological restoration in Ohio, where scientists and specialists reintroduced roughly 670 tagged Fatmucket mussels into the Cuyahoga River. Partners in the effort included the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Cleveland Metroparks and Cleveland State University. The project is intended to help rebuild freshwater mussel populations that were sharply reduced by industrial development, dams and pollution, and to strengthen ecosystem health through natural filtration and sediment stabilization.
The announcements also included a personnel recognition story: the Army said Staff Sgt. Victoria Ortiz will be honored as one of the top recruiters in fiscal year 2025 at a Pentagon ceremony on January 21, crediting her use of social media engagement and hands-on mentorship for building trust with recruits and families.
In another benefits-related update, the Internal Revenue Service confirmed that the $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” paid in December 2025 as a supplemental basic allowance for housing payment to more than 1.5 million service members is not taxable, classifying it as a “qualified military benefit” excluded from gross income.
Taken together, the announcements portray a department attempting to close a long chapter of loss with the final identifications from Colony Glacier while simultaneously projecting urgency on modernization: pushing AI deeper into the force, tightening coordination with allies, investing in counter-drone capabilities, and reinforcing readiness from training pools in Pennsylvania to joint operations centers in Qatar.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN.