One of the C-37A executive jets assigned to the 310th Airlift Squadron at MacDill AFB, Fla., along with 11 of the unit’s airmen plus contractor support staff, deployed to Afghanistan, marking the squadron’s first-ever overseas stint, said base officials. The contingent of all volunteers left MacDill in late January and is expected to spend about three months in that theater shuttling senior US military and government officials, states MacDill’s Jan. 31 release. “Since our squadron had never deployed with the C-37A, every process had to be built from scratch,” said 310th AS Commander Lt. Col. Derrick Hodges. “We had about five weeks’ notice that we were tasked to fill this slot,” he added. The MacDill airmen relieved deployed crews from the 76th AS at Ramstein AB, Germany, according to the release. (MacDill report by A1C Sarah Breer)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
