Airmen with the 7th Airlift Squadron who made a new airdrop record during their 140-day deployment to Southwest Asia are back at their home base of McChord AFB, Wash. This was the outfit that, in March, dropped some 32,000 pounds of supplies over 40 minutes to four different locations to aid civilians in central and eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of their deployment, they conducted more than 6,500 missions, flying 16,000 hours and moving more than 121,000 passengers and 91,000 tons of cargo.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.