Most of the aircraft evacuated from several Air Force bases on the US East Coast, such as Dover AFB, Del., and JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., to avoid Superstorm Sandy have since returned home, representatives from those installations told the Daily Report. For example, as of Oct. 31, six KC-135 tankers from the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 108th Wing had returned to McGuire, said a base spokesman on Nov. 1. They had flown to McConnell AFB, Kan., on Oct. 27 to avoid Sandy’s wrath. Similarly safely back at McGuire are KC-10s of the 305th Air Mobility Wing, said the spokesman. Seven of them had sought shelter at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., while one each went to Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., and Homestead ARB, Fla. McGuire officials had also dispatched five of the 305th AMW’s C-17s to MacDill AFB, Fla., while two moved to JB Charleston, S.C. Five of those C-17s returned home on Oct. 31, while the remaining two were conducting missions away from McGuire, said the spokesman.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.