The Air Force plans to shed more than half its active duty force of 74 C-21 executive jet transports to aid its cost cutting efforts, reports Stars and Stripes. Some Air National Guard units—like North Dakota’s 119th Fighter Wing—will pick up C-21s, while others will go to the boneyard, formally the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, at Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz. The Air Force will send one or more to its Flight Standards Agency in Oklahoma to replace one that crashed last year.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
