The Air Force plans to shed more than half its active duty force of 74 C-21 executive jet transports to aid its cost cutting efforts, reports Stars and Stripes. Some Air National Guard units—like North Dakota’s 119th Fighter Wing—will pick up C-21s, while others will go to the boneyard, formally the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, at Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz. The Air Force will send one or more to its Flight Standards Agency in Oklahoma to replace one that crashed last year.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.