The Pentagon had some heavy-hitting aircraft in Britain this week at the Farnborough International Air Show. Setting the pace was a USAF B-1B bomber, which thundered over the show at an altitude of 500 feet three times per day. The B-1B belongs to the Air Force 20th Bomb Squadron, located at Dyess AFB, Tex. Also on hand were the Air Force’s F-15C, F-15E, and F-16C fighters, C-17A airlifter, and C-130J transport. The show ends this weekend.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.