Maintainers with Air Force Reserve Command’s 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell AFB, Ala., recently completed a comprehensive isochronal inspection of the first C-130 that has received the Avionics Modernization Program upgrade, according to a Sept. 26 release. Wing personnel worked with Boeing technicians to “complete inspections of the aircraft needed to continue its test regime at Edwards [AFB, Calif.],” said col. Kerry Kohler, 908th Maintenance Group commander. Earlier this month, Boeing declared it would be ready early next year to move into Low Rate Initial Production for the C-130 AMP, following software validation during test flights at Edwards. (Maxwell report by Carl Bergquist)
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…