Afghan air force maintainers successfully inspected, serviced, and launched a C-27 transport on their own from Kabul, checking off another important first for the infant force. The maintainers have been working with NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan advisors for the past eight months in preparation for the event, which is considered a major step toward the AAF’s autonomy. “I am proud of the C-27 AAF maintainers and of how hard they have worked to get to this point,” said TSgt. Charles McCollum, C-27 crew chief advisor with the 440th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, of the Dec. 8 mission. He added, “We have a ways to go, but they are well on their way to becoming professional maintainers,” (Kabul release by MC3 Jared E Walker) (See also Afghan C-27 Fleet Hits Operating Milestone from the Daily Report archives.)
While the Space Force is still making long-term plans to establish high-fidelity live and virtual test and training ranges in the coming years, officials say they're also working with operators to identify near-term gaps and quickly field capabilities to address them.
