The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 military turboprop engine on April 12 topped one million hours of service as the power plant for the C-130J Hercules transport. AE 2100-D3 engines power J models flown by the US Air Force, Marine Cops, and Coast Guard as well as the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Italian Air Force, and the Royal Danish Air Force.
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…