Several recent press reports have leapt onto the annual Pentagon operational test and evaluation report to question—again—the wisdom of fielding the Air Force’s newest Hercules, the C-130J. The report covers testing during Fiscal 2006 for a range of military systems, and says of the C-130J that it is “not effective … in a non-permissive threat environment.” The Air Force has not publicly commented on this latest report, however there is ample evidence that the J Model has performed very well in Southwest Asia since starting a “four-month” test that turned into a nearly two-year deployment. Air National Guard crews from California, Maryland, and Rhode Island took their C-130Js to SWA, where they turned in mission effectiveness rates above 95 percent, reports the Desert Eagle. Air Guard crews quickly adapted to the hostile environment, and it was partly the sterling J model performance that changed Donald Rumsfeld’s mind about canceling the program.
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…