Two dozen airmen from Charleston AFB, S.C. recently participated in an international mission to invade the North Carolina coast—as part of an exercise called Operation Iron Thunder. The C-17 airmen helped wrap up a four-day joint training session involving 100 US, British and NATO aircraft that took them to Camp Lejeune and the MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The C-17s were used to pick up marines, vehicles and supplies, perform a mid-air refuel and maneuver to avoid “smoky Sams”—dummy surface to air missiles. “We want to incorporate more of what we’re doing in the real world,” said Capt. Aaron Walenga, one of the C-17 pilots.
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
