Airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 910th Airlift Wing in Ohio who are members of DOD’s sole fixed-wing unit dedicated to aerial spraying on Wednesday adapted their unique capability to the largest oil spill response exercise—Safe Seas 2006—in coastal waters. This event had the airmen flying their specially equipped C-130s near San Francisco. Last year, they covered some three million acres along the Gulf Coast, spraying for mosquitoes and filth flies following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.