Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) is trying to land a few of the C-27 Spartans, selected as the Joint Cargo Aircraft winner, for Little Rock AFB, Ark. The Leader reports that Snyder, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, commended Little Rock as a “great place for cargo plane training,” since it already has the market on Air Force training for the C-130J tactical airlifter. The JCA is an Army-Air Force program, which just sustained a protest from the Raytheon-led Team JCA—its C-295 lost out to the L-3 Communications-led team’s C-27. Despite Snyder’s interest, however, The Leader reports that the Little Rock commander, Col. Rowayne Schatz, says the base will not see the intratheater airlifter. He apparently told the Jacksonville (Ark.) Chamber of Commerce, “That mission will not come to Little Rock.”
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
