Airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 916th Air Refueling Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., got one of their KC-135 tankers off the ground in less than an hour after receiving a 7 a.m. call for help from an active duty NKC-135, reports Capt. Shannon Mann. The specially configured test 135 had lost vital flight instrumentation, leaving its crew flying almost blind. They did have a handheld GPS and got information from ground radar, but they needed the KC-135 aircrew and ground command post operators to talk them through a safe landing.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
