Lockheed Martin delivered the 14th new-build MC-130J special-mission aircraft to Air Force Special Operations Command. Aircraft 5713 departed the company’s manufacturing plant in Marietta, Ga., on Jan 9 for Cannon AFB, N.M., according to a company release on that same day. Cannon is the beddown site for these new MC-130Js, dubbed Commando IIs, which AFSOC intends to utilize for missions such as refueling of other special-mission platforms in flight, covertly inserting and extracting special forces, and resupplying them. The previous MC-130J arrived at Cannon last month. There are 27 MC-130Js on order thus far for AFSOC.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…