Air Mobility Command aircraft operating in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq were shot at 215 times in 2006, Gen. Duncan McNabb, AMC commander, told attendees at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium Friday. That’s the bad news. The good news is that a combination of tactics, techniques, procedures, and defensive systems mean that the aircraft were only hit six times, with no US aircraft shot down. McNabb noted, however, that enemy fire did bring down an RAF C-130 in late 2005.
The U.S. has approved a $310.5 million Foreign Military Sale to provide Ukraine with maintenance and training for its F-16 fighter jets, the State Department announced May 2. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has been sending retired F-16s to Ukraine to be used for spare parts.