The 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan AB, South Korea, has received the first four of newly upgraded Block 40 F-16s. The wing’s current Block 40 Vipers do not have the Common Configuration Implementation Program upgrades that include enhanced avionics, featuring a modular mission computer, Link 16 communications system, and helmet-mounted cueing system, reports SSgt. Alice Moore. Pilots of the wing’s 80th Fighter Squadron flew the aircraft from Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Kunsan, where the 80th FS will be the first unit to fly the upgraded fighters. The wing expects to receive more CCIP aircraft in spring 2008.
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…