Lockheed Martin delivered the ninth C-5M Super Galaxy transport to the Air Force, announced the company on Dec. 3. The handover took place on Nov. 30 at the company’s aircraft plant in Marietta, Ga. This airframe, aircraft number 85-0001, will undergo internal paint restoration at Stewart ANGB, N.Y., before traveling to its permanent home at Dover AFB, Del., according to the company’s release. Overall, the Air Force intends to modernize 52 of its existing C-5s (one C-5A, 49 C-5Bs, and two C-5Cs) to the new C-5M standard by 2016. These aircraft feature new engines and other performance improvements installed under the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program, along with new cockpit avionics from a previous, separate modernization initiative.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.