Airmen at Kadena AB, Japan prepared ahead of time the 225,000 pounds of food, medicine, and cold weather items transported by two C-17s, one from Alaska and one from Hawaii, to Shanghai last week. The Kadena employed a new Smart Operations initiative called aerial port expediter, or APEX, for the short-notice mission, saving about “eight hours of downtime for the aircraft,” said TSgt. Korey Aschenbrenner, the APEX load director for the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron at Kadena. Under APEX, Aschenbrenner took the place of the loadmaster for the aircraft, enabling the ground crew to load the supplies while the aircrews took crew rest. Another facet of the APEX initiative trains aerial porters to power up airlifters. (Kadena report by TSgt. Rey Ramon)
The Pentagon’s proposed budget for the Air Force in fiscal 2027 would include billions of dollars in additional spending on advanced next-generation fighters, trainer aircraft, hypersonic missiles and more. But an expert close to Air Force issues said the service’s asks are paltry compared to the massive $1.5 trillion topline…
