Six C-130 aircraft carrying special firefighting equipment continue to help battle wildfires in Texas and northern Mexico from the air, as of Monday, announced US Northern Command officials. Since the first of these aircraft arrived on the scene on April 17, these C-130s have carried out 64 missions to release many thousands of gallons of fire retardant and suppressant on the fires in southern Texas and the Mexican state of Coahuila via the self-contained Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System that they carry. Two of the C-130s are from Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo. They are deployed to Laughlin AFB, Tex. The other four, staging from Dyess AFB, Tex., are Air National Guard assets from the 145th AW in North Carolina, 146th AW in California, and 153rd AW in Wyoming. (Dyess report by SrA. Margo Allen) (See also Peterson release)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
