Air Mobility Command’s 615th Contingency Response Group at Travis AFB, Calif., have descended upon the former Castle Air Force Base, near Merced, Calif., for a weeklong exercise, during which the airmen are opening a “seized” airfield. Some 250 airmen and Army Reservists are running Operation Hydra at Castle, Ft. Hunter Liggit, and Paso Robles Airport through June 8. Castle closed in 1995, victim of an early BRAC round.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.