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 Air Force has selected Collins Aerospace and Shield AI to develop the software Collaborative Combat Aircraft will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker General Atomics was quick to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A aircraft with Collins’ system.
