Airlifting 39,000 pounds of cargo on Aug. 23 to soldiers and marines in the eastern region of Afghanistan was just another daily mission for airmen of the 745th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, troops who fly and maintain the C-130s now deployed to Bagram Air Base there. USAF installed the C-130 unit in Afghanistan because the Hercules can handle such short haul missions into rough terrain.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…