The technicians at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia finished a rush depot overhaul of an Air Force Special Operations Command AC-130U gunship in less than the requested 150 days. A routine scheduled maintenance on a gunship takes 181 days, the ALC did it in 146 days—and that included more than the routine work because the aircraft needed extra work, like repair of its center wing box, which is a problem with older C-130 airframes. Aircraft logistics specialist Winston Slappey summed up the experience: “It was all teamwork. Everyone was pushing on this aircraft.” AFSOC needed the gunship to meet its deployment schedule.
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
