The 19th newly built C-130J transport assigned to the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., touched down at the base, announced manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Maj. Gen. Scott Hanson, Air War College commandant at Maxwell AFB, Ala., piloted the C-130J on its flight from the company’s assembly plant in Marietta, Ga., to Dyess on May 3. So far this year, Dyess has received six C-130Js, including two that arrived there last month. Dyess will eventually operate a fleet of 28 Super Hercules airplanes, which are gradually replacing the base’s legacy model C-130s. (Includes Dyess release)
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…