Airmen
of the 23rd Wing at Moody AFB, Ga., flew two HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and one HC-130P tanker aircraft on a 10-hour mission April 25 to help saves the lives of six Cubans in distress at sea in the Gulf of Mexico after fleeing the communist nation. The Panamanian-flagged tanker ship Eos discovered the Cubans and pulled them from the waters, officials from Moody said in an April 30 release. At the request of the Coast Guard, the Moody element then deployed to retrieve the Cubans from the tanker, which was located about 260 miles south of New Orleans, to bring them to a medical facility in the city.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
