The 61st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Ark., took delivery of a factory-fresh C-130J airlifter, announced aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Lt. Gen. Brooks Bash, Air Mobility Command’s vice commander, ferried the C-130J from the company’s assembly facility in Marietta, Ga., to Little Rock on May 15, states the company’s release. This airframe, serial number 5745, is one of nine new-build C-130Js scheduled for beddown with the squadron. The first of these touched down at Little Rock, a hub of C-130 training and operations, in October 2013. Two subsequent deliveries took place in December followed by one in March, according to the company’s website.
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…