Air Force and Boeing technicians at Robins AFB, Ga., recently installed a new glass cockpit on the first C-130H transport to receive this upgrade under the low-rate initial production phase of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program. This aircraft is now in functional testing. A second aircraft is about 85 percent through the upgrade process, which adds new air-traffic management, defensive suites, navigation instruments, and instrument landings systems to the legacy Hercules airframes. “There is a tremendous amount of modification required to take the plane from where it was at to where we’re going,” said Randy Odell, C-130 AMP deputy flight chief with Robins’ 560th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. The first aircraft, as the pathfinder for Robins’ modification line, required a good deal of troubleshooting in order to smooth the upgrade process for later aircraft, explained Odell. Two additional C-130s are scheduled to arrive later this fiscal year for the AMP work. (Robins report by Jenny Gordon)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.