The Air Force has chosen a Montana-based business to build 243 modified Ford F-130 trucks that are prototypes for use as flight-line tractors. The vehicles will move aircraft around on tarmacs, using a telescoping, rotating center hitch that the company—International Truck Body—is pursuing a patent for, reports the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune. If the first year of the contract goes well for the planned five-year, $29 million deal, the company could sell 1,200 of the tractors to the Air Force.
The U.S. continued to move a significant amount of airpower toward the Middle East in recent days as talks to forge a nuclear deal with Iran hung in the balance. Flight tracking data indicate there was unusually heavy movement of dozens of fighter jets and other assets that might be…
