As B
oeing prepares to field Avionics Modernization Program-upgraded C-130 airlifters in 2010, the company is also training USAF flight crews and maintenance personnel. The flight crews get 50 hours in classroom instruction and 12 in a simulator-like engineering test device. Maintainers spend time on academic and lab work and get to work hands on with an AMP aircraft. The company’s former Air Force and Navy instructors already have trained more than 100 USAF personnel. According to a Boeing statement, the company will conduct C-130 AMP training over the next several years as the modification is integrated into each of the various models.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.