If Congress grants the Air Force’s request to retire 17 C-5A transports in Fiscal 2011, Air Force Reserve Command’s 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, would be one of the units to shed its C-5s and transition to new C-17 airlifters, AFRC has announced. The command said the Air Force leadership approved this move on March 12. Under the plan, the 445th AW would retire five of its 10 C-5As in Fiscal 2011 and then the remaining five in Fiscal 2012. It would receive four C-17s in Fiscal 2011 and then another four in Fiscal 2012 to complete the changeover. The Air Force is hoping that Congress will rescind its prohibition on retiring any C-5As so that it may get rid of excess strategic airlift capacity that drains funds from other USAF priorities. One Air National Guard unit would also switch to C-17s. (AFRC release)
The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $398 million contract to design and build a communications satellite prototype with advanced anti-jam and data processing capabilities. The service announced the contract for the Enhanced Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype program, or Enhanced PTS-P, May 15, and said the satellite will launch no sooner than…