An airman assigned to the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB, Japan, died Dec. 13 after finishing a training mission at Andersen AFB, Guam, according to an Air Force release. The airman was found unresponsive during post-flight inspections; the cause of death is under investigation. The 374th AW had traveled to Guam for Operation Christmas Drop, a humanitarian relief event in which Air Force planes drop critical supplies and donated goods to 56 remote Micronesian islands. The Air Force has not released the name of the airman.
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…