Testif
ying before Senate appropriators Wednesday, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said he is concerned about the service’s ability to maintain its greatly-in-demand C-130 tactical airlifters. He explained that despite a host of upgrade programs, the Air Force essentially is performing “geriatric maintenance,” a condition that will continue into the far future. Even after re-engining and replacing center wing boxes on older C-130s, Wynne said, “We still have to inspect the outboard wings because we’re afraid they’ll crack and fall off.” It takes 24 hours to do that inspection, and it must be done every 70 hours. And, that leads Wynne to believe that “the replacement rate of C-130s is probably inadequate.”
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
