Maintainers with the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing recently discovered that strips of a synthetic coating inside the fuel tanks of the unit’s C-130s had peeled off, causing the unit’s leaders to ground the aircraft for more than a week, reports the Albany Times-Union. Wing officials told the newspaper that the move was precautionary, since the problem could have led to a clogged fuel pump.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.