Airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 87th Aerial Port Squadron at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, are handling aerial port operations at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, over a two-week deployment in a “port takeover,” according to TSgt. April Martinez, the Reserve coordinator with Hickam’s 735th Air Mobility Squadron. Journalist TSgt. Chris Vadnais reports that the 735th AMS every two weeks over the course of a year hosts a different unit of about 35 Reserve airmen who integrate with the 735th. Then, once each year a complement of 150 Reservists deploys to conduct a full port takeover. Such deployments give the Reservists an opportunity to work at a highly active airfield that processes a lot of passengers.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.