Members of the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Air Field near San Jose, successfully demonstrated a prototype network-enabled situation awareness system for personnel recovery for the first time at US Joint Forces Command’s Bold Quest exercise. The wing sent 23 airmen and an MC-130P rescue aircraft to the coalition-centric exercise, which took place Oct. 27 to Nov. 5 at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C. They flew eight missions with the MC-130P acting as the airborne mission commander during the simulated recovery missions. The aircraft carried a data link capability evaluated in April that allows for the integration of air and ground forces during recovery operations. So-called “digitally aided personnel recovery” goes beyond the constraints of voice-only communications that rapidly become saturated during intense rescue operations due to the volume of information being passed, according to wing officials. (Moffett report by Capt. Alyson Teeter)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.