Daily Report

July 5, 2012

Four Air Guardsmen Died in C-130 Firefighting Crash

Four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing in Charlotte died when their Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130 crashed on July 1 while fighting a woodland fire in southwestern South Dakota. Two other crewmembers, whom officials...

Pakistan Over-land Supply Routes to Reopen

Pakistan has agreed to reopen its ground supply routes into Afghanistan to US and NATO forces, thereby allowing them to move materiel and equipment in and out of Afghanistan once again at a significantly lower cost than air transport. “This...

MAFFS Back in the Firefighting Fray

After a one-day standdown on July 2, the Air Force’s small fleet of Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130s resumed flight operations to help battle wildfires in Colorado and several northwestern states. As of early morning on July 4 local time,...

NRO Satellite Launched

The Air Force and its industry partners successfully launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket fired from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. “Our government and industry teams have done it...

HASC Chair Calls on Senate Majority Leader to Resolve Sequestration

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), along with GOP committee members, urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring a plan to the Senate floor without delay to resolve sequestration. “The time for rhetoric has passed,”...

RPA Schoolhouse Welcomes New Hangar

Members of the California Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing at March Air Reserve Base inaugurated the unit’s new $5 million, 17,500-square-foot hangar at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville. The state-of-the-art facility, meant to support the wing’s remotely...

Two Air Guard B-2 Pilots Hit Flight Milestone

Two B-2 pilots with the Missouri Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., joined the elite group of pilots who have accumulated 1,000 flying hours in the cockpit of the stealth bomber. Both airmen, Lt. Col. Dave...

Lockheed Martin Lands Innovative Space-Launch Contract

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $6.2 million contract to mature technologies that would allow for on-demand launches of small satellites. The Airborne Launch Assist Space Access phase one contract covers 18 months, according to the...