A C-130J deployed from Dyess AFB, Tex., became the first airplane to make use of a newly constructed C-130 hangar at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, according to base officials. The C-130J, operating as part of Kandahar’s 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, parked in the hangar for the first time on Sept. 28, they said in an Oct. 5 release. Kandahar is home to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing that operates numerous aircraft types providing aeromedical evacuation and casualty evacuation; airborne communications relay; close air support; combat search and rescue; command and control; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and tactical airlift capability. (Kandahar photo caption by SrA. Jack Sanders)
Over its 20 years of service, the MQ-9 Reaper drone has typically landed on paved runways, where it is rearmed and refueled by a large group of maintainers and support staff. But a recent Agile Combat Employment exercise saw Air Force Special Operations Command land an MQ-9 on a dirt strip…