The leaders of Air Force Reserve Command’s 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick AFB, Fla., don’t bemoan the fact that they are flying some of the Air Force’s oldest aircraft—HC-130s tankers and HH-60 helicopters. Instead, they tell Norman Moody of Florida Today, that the aircraft are “still reliable” largely through the efforts of the unit’s highly experienced maintainers. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) blames the Clinton Administration for the Air Force’s elderly fleet of aircraft, telling the newspaper that the Bush Administration and Congress “have been working to procure new aircraft.”
The Sentinel Launch Support System, the digital backbone for testing the new intercontinental ballistic missile over its expected 50-year life, has completed critical design review, Northrop Grumman said Oct. 20.