One of the Air Force’s C-130s specially configured for fighting ground fires crashed on July 1 in the southwest corner of South Dakota during a mission dropping retardant on the White Draw fire, announced US Northern Command. The crash took place at approximately 6:00 p.m. South Dakota time, according to NORTHCOM’s release. The cause of the crash was not known and the incident is under investigation. The Rapid City Journal reported that a helicopter was able to land near the downed C-130 and took three airmen away for medical treatment.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…