In an unusual air training mission, two 317th Airlift Group C-130Js successfully conducted evasive maneuvers against an F-16 Fighting Falcon, practicing tactics they may need during the upcoming Red Flag-Alaska exercise. The two Super Hercules relied on tight aircrew coordination to prevent an intercept by the nimble fighter, according to an Aug. 1 release. The C-130s’ loadmasters sat with their heads in the bubble windows above the flight deck, relaying information to the pilots on the F-16’s position and maneuvers, enabling them to counter the fighter’s moves. “The aircrews learned how to work as a team and to defend their aircraft should an aggressor impose an attack,” said Maj. Aaron Webb, 39th Airlift Squadron assistant director for tactics. “In the state of current events, it’s absolutely imperative to train our aircrews to be prepared for any threat.” A1C Jacob Betts, a 49th AS loadmaster, said the training “was educational and helped me realize there’s more to being a loadmaster than what we normally do.”
The Defense Innovation Unit is gearing up for the first flight of its commercially developed hypersonic testbed as soon as the end of February—part of a larger project to quickly increase the cadence of the Pentagon’s hypersonic flight testing and field advanced, high-speed systems and components at scale.
