The Air Force soon will release the findings of its Intra-Theater Airlift Working Group, said Secretary Michael Donley last week at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. The working group is charged with determining from where the Air Force will draw the 32 tactical airlifters that the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization act directed the service to maintain on top of the force structure that it had planned. While Congress gave the Air Force the option to choose either C-130s, C-27Js, or a mix of both, Donley has said the service does not anticipate modifying its plan to divest its C-27Js, meaning the 32 airlifters likely would all be C-130s. Among those 32 airframes “are a number of [C-130] aircraft that have center-wing-box challenges, age-out, and structural challenges,” Donley told reporters following his Feb. 22 symposium address. “We planned to retire those aircraft so . . . center-wing-box repairs are not funded,” he noted.
Pentagon Releases Cost of Living, BAH Rates for 2026
Dec. 30, 2025
The Pentagon will pay cost of living allowances to 127,000 service members in the continental U.S. in 2026, an increase of 66,000 members in 2025. Airmen and Guardians across the U.S. will also receive an average increase of 4.2 percent for their Basic Housing Allowance, compared to the 5.4 percent…
