The Air Force faces an uphill fight with its plans to cut five units worth of C-130s, largely from the Guard and Reserve. The service, however, says the tactical airlift fleet can afford to absorb some risk and that there could be future lift possibilities ...
A third specially equipped Air Force C-130 joined firefighting efforts in California this week as flames burn in five large fires in northern California. The Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130H from the Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing began operating out of the former ...
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft of the fiscal 2022 defense budget on June 29, adding C-130s and MQ-9s to the Air Force’s budget request while leaving the service’s request for F-35s and F-15EXs untouched.
With more than 1.3 million acres already damaged in wildfires this year and 56 large fires currently raging, the Air National Guard activated a specially equipped C-130 and crew to aid firefighting efforts across the western U.S. The National Interagency Fire Center requested the Guard's ...
Several Air Force aircraft including F-16s, C-130s, and KC-135s have deployed to northern Africa for the continent’s largest exercise involving 7,000 participants from nine nations. The African Lion exercise wraps up June 18, with USAF aircraft flying alongside Moroccan aircraft in close air support training ...
The Air Force is looking beyond the venerable C-130 for tactical airlift missions, saying the airplane no longer meets its needs for a future of dispersed operating locations, which may not have a runway, service leaders told members of the House Armed Services seapower and ...
The Air Force didn’t effectively oversee the development of the KC-46’s refueling boom, leading to additional delays and costs and a lingering deficiency that prevents the tanker from refueling some USAF aircraft, according to a new Pentagon watchdog report. The Defense Department Inspector General, in ...
Air Force Magazine on May 25 flew aboard a KC-46 during a refueling flight as part of Air Mobility Command’s major exercise Mobility Guardian 2021 in Michigan, the first time an independent media outlet has flown on the new tanker. The KC-46 from McConnell Air ...
ALPENA COMBAT READINESS TRAINING CENTER, Michigan—Air Mobility Command wants to overhaul how it operates so that it serves as more than just the “bus drivers” for combat forces, and it is practicing how to do that right now across the upper Midwest. Exercise Mobility Guardian ...
The Air Force is testing new ways to use the F-15E Strike Eagle to deliver bombs. The 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron recently flew an F-15E with six Joint Direct Attack Munitions on a single side, potentially expanding the number of the bombs the aircraft ...
The withdrawal of about 700 U.S. forces from Somalia required a massive nocturnal airlift, movement of fighters and tankers from the Middle East, and other overwatch from drones and other special operations aircraft, all planned and executed within weeks. The mission, called Operation Octave Quartz, ...
Several Air Mobility Command and Air National Guard C-17s and C-130s have delivered dozens of pallets of bottled water to help people across Texas dealing with water outages in the aftermath of winter storms. Beginning Feb. 19, Active duty C-17s from Travis Air Force Base, ...