Air Force Reserve Command’s 934th Airlift Wing at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport/ARS, Minn., took delivery May 20 of the first of eight C-130H3 transport aircraft that it is set to receive by the end of July under a BRAC 2005-mandated realignment. Under the move, the unit is exchanging its eight C-130H2 models for eight newer C-130H3 aircraft from AFRC’s 914th AW at Niagara Falls ARS, N.Y. The swap, along with another transfer from the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 118th AW at Nashville, will give the 914th AW 12 H2 models in total that it will operate together with the ANG’s 107th AW, also at Niagara Falls. The changes will give the 934th AW the same C-130 model as used by the Minnesota ANG’s 133rd AW. “We have always worked efficiently, side-by-side with our Minneapolis Air National Guard counterparts,” said Col. Tim Tarchick, 934th AW commander. “But now that we will have the same aircraft models, I see that relationship growing even stronger.” (Minneapolis-St. Paul report by Capt. S.J. Brown)
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…