Seven Air Force C-130s and 165 airmen are participating in a massive multinational airborne exercise called Swift Response 15, according to an Army news release. About 2,800 US soldiers, along with troops from 10 other NATO countries, are part of the exercise, which began Aug. 18 and runs until Sept. 13 in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, and Romania. The training, which the Army said is the largest allied airborne training event in Europe since the end of the Cold War, is designed to increase interoperability and help NATO nations work together as a cohesive team. A joint Air Force-Army team worked together in July for the first C-130 landing at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Ho?henfels, Germany, in more than two years, according to the Army. The test landing was in preparation for Swift Response, which includes five C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from 317th Airlift Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas, and two C-130s from the 914th Airlift Wing, Niagara Falls ARS, N.Y. (See also Back in the Bavarian Dirt.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.