The 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, slowly is shedding its old C-130E airlifters, sending off a 44-year-old recently, but the wing must maintain most of its elderly Hercules through the 2009-11 timeframe. The wing doesn’t begin to get the new J model until 2009 and expects to receive its full complement over the following two years. A1C Kenny Holston reports that the Ramstein folks got a preview as the Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 143rd Airlift Wing flew one of its C-130Js to the German base. The Air Guard wing was to get its eighth and final J model this year.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.