Officials at Little Rock AFB, Ark., say that training of C-130 aircrews is falling behind because too many older C-130 Hercules are grounded or restricted for wing-box fractures. The base has 33 of the 82 C-130s currently grounded by Air Mobility Command, reports the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The Air Education and Training Command base also supplies C-130s to support operations in Southwest Asia. To keep up with its commitments, Little Rock has borrowed C-130s from Air National Guard units in North Carolina and Wyoming. The prognosis for relief—all the unit’s C-130s repaired with new wing boxes—is years.
If the Air Force is in line for a big budget bump from President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, the head of Air Combat Command said he would make aircraft spare parts his top spending priority—but cautioned that more money to buy parts won’t equal a…
