USAF air assets continued their support of Pakistani earthquake relief operations. A C-130 and one contracted B-747 airlifted more than 133,000 pounds of aircraft parts, turbine engines, tents, and other supplies to assist the Pakistani government. So far, the Air Force has flown in more than six million pounds of relief supplies.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…