A US Air Force C-130 deployed to the US Central Command area of responsibility safely airdropped more than 7,000 halal meals near Al Asad AB, Iraq, on Monday. The meals—a response to a request from the Iraqi government—were delivered to members of the Iraqi Albu Nimr tribe by members of the Iraqi security forces, states an Oct. 28 release. Many of the tribe members recently fled their homes near Hit in an effort to escape ISIS extremists, which the tribe battled since early October until the village of Zauiyat albu Nimr in western Anbar province finally fell late last week, reported Reuters.
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…