AMC Airmen Get Lighter Load: Air Mobility Command’s airmen participating in the latest air and space expeditionary force rotation (AEFs 9 and 10) get to travel about 50 pounds lighter as part of phase 2 of the new mobility bag pre-positioning initiative. The program lets the airmen in the current AEFs travel to Southwest Asia with only their gas masks, the other standard gear—general purpose equipment (A-Bag at 14 pounds), cold weather gear (B-Bag at 17 pounds), and chemical warfare gear (C-Bag at 19 pounds)—already is in place in SWA. USAF officials believe the bag drop effort will save about $32 million a year in airlift costs.
More than 100 B-21s will be needed if the nation is to avoid creating a high demand/low capacity capability, panelists said on a Hudson Institute webinar. The B-21's flexibility, stealth, range and payload will be in high demand for a wide range of missions, both traditional and new.