Airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany deployed with a Botswana C-130 aircrew to the Darfur region in support of an African Union peacekeeping effort. US airmen from the 86th Operations Support Squadron, 86th Air Mobility Squadron, and 786th Security Forces Squadron flew aboard a Botswana C-130 that transported 56 Ugandan civil police out of Darfur, following a one-year deployment to the area. It was a win-win type operation. “Even though we are located thousands of miles from each other, we have common experiences and are able to build on those by sharing techniques and ideas,” said Maj. Jim Wandmacher, a C-130 navigator. The mission also marked the first time Botswana provided airlift to the troubled Darfur region.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
