The latest such mission has two C-130s and 24 airmen from the 463rd Airlift Group at Little Rock AFB, Ark., spending 120 days in Southwest Asia. It takes them three days—with stopovers in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy—to reach the theater. Some of the Little Rock airmen have made 54 such trips to SWA. “We know it is dangerous, but each time we load up one C-130, that is one less convoy that will be put in harms’ way,” said loadmaster SSgt. Paul Rose.
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.