Coming this July to McChord AFB, Wash., are more than 55 US and international teams ready to tackle Air Mobility Command’s Rodeo 2007 competition. Joining 41 USAF teams will be three from the Marine Corps and one from the Coast Guard and teams from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Netherlands, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. Observers are coming from another 19 foreign countries. The last Rodeo, which features airdrop, air refueling, and events demonstrating security forces, aerial port, maintenance, and aeromedical evacuation capabilities, was held in 2005.
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…