WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft from Air Force Reserve Command’s 403rd Wing at Keesler AFB, Miss., have deployed to a forward operating location on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands to be better positioned to monitor a new storm system brewing east of Barbados that may become a tropical depression, the base announced yesterday. The specially modified C-130s fly directly into the storms, utilizing their weather-monitoring gear to provide valuable, accurate data to National Hurricane Center forecasters. Earlier this month, a Keesler WC-130J tracked Hurricane Berta around Bermuda in the first storm-chase mission of the 2008 season.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.