Thanks to the stellar work of maintainers, all four of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing’s aircraft fleets deployed in Southwest Asia maxed out in April in every one of the eight categories that the unit uses to gauge aircraft availability, according to wing officials. “It’s unprecedented that four aircraft maintenance units pulled this off, especially while deployed,” said Capt. Josh Reno, 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron operations officer, in a May 18 release. “In a typical month, an AMU expects to be coded ‘green’ in four to six metrics based on supply issues, workload, and a variety of other factors,” he added. Yet, each of the wing’s E-3 AWACS, EQ-4 Global Hawk remotely pilot aircraft, U-2 Dragon Ladies, and KC-10 Extender tankers scored high maintenance marks across the board. “Having as many jets available as we did means we were able to offer more aerial options,” stressed Reno. When requests came in “we were able to say, ‘Yes, we can support that.'” (380th AEW report by SSgt. J.G. Buzanowski)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design the Air Force said.