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.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
