The Air Force and Army work toward developing a more maneuverable airdrop bundle has paid off. US Central Command officials told Pentagon reporters Friday that an Alaska Air National Guard C-130 aircrew used the new Joint Precision Airdrop Delivery System to drop supplies to an Army unit in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, marking the first combat use of the new system. JPADS employs the Global Positioning System to steer itself under a rectangular parafoil to a drop zone from a height of up to 25,000 feet. The tool enables airdrop and mission survivability to locations currently inaccessible by traditional means, said Lt. Col. Charles Ciuzio, the chief of the air mobility division at the Southwest Asia Combined Air Operations Center. (Also see 455th Air Expeditionary Wing release)
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
