Two HC-130Ps deployed downrange last week in what is expected to be the final Active Duty Combat King deployment before the Air Force transitions to the new HC-130J Combat King II. The two aircraft, serial Nos. 64-4860 and 65-0982, left Moody AFB, Ga., March 21, along with 33 airmen from the 23rd Wing, in support of operations in Air Forces Africa, states a March 25 release. Of the 37 HC-130Js the Air Force plans to acquire, nine will be based at Moody. (See also Moody Gets First HC-130J.)
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.