The last of the KC-135s of the California Air National Guard’s 163rd Air Refueling Wing has taken flight from the unit’s home at March ARB, Calif., reports the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The Air Guardsmen are now embracing their new mission—operating Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. The unit will have a name change and switches operational control from Air Mobility Command to Air Combat Command with its new mission. The 163rd airmen are working at Nellis AFB, Nev., with the UAVs, until construction upgrades at March are complete later this year.
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.