The C-130 Hercules has been doing some heavy lifting on the front lines in Southwest Asia. Recently, a group of maintainers with the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron’s structural repair shop performed a month of repairs and maintenance at a forward location on a C-130 from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, that suffered structural damage when a tire blew. The Hercules was flown from Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, to the healing hands of the 379th EMS for repairs to its gear door. The team ordered replacements for some damaged parts and made others, returning the Herc to duty without a stateside visit.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
