Air Force Special Operations Command now has two operational squadrons at its new western base. Officials of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon AFB, N.M., on May 16 activated the 318th Special Operations Squadron. The 318th SOS will fly light and medium aircraft, including the PC-12, that AFSOC airmen term “non-standard aviation,” according to a May 19 release. The New Mexico base received the first of 10 planned PC-12 aircraft in January. The 318th designation is not new to Air Force special operators; its colors last flew at Pope AFB, N.C., in the 1970s, but its earlier history includes duty with the World War II air commandos. (Cannon report by Capt. Mae-Li Allison)
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…