More than 100 members of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, spent Dec. 1 through Dec. 10 at Nevatim Air Force Base in Israel training with their new C-130J transports. Capt. Sarah Santoro, mission commander of the 37th Airlift Squadron for this off-station assignment, said it was “a great training opportunity” since the Israeli desert “has similarities to where we would deploy to, such as Africa or the Middle East.” The Ramstein aircrews were able to conduct activities like dirt landings and low-level flying that they are not permitted to do in Germany due to airspace restrictions. The visit also gave Israeli airmen the chance to experience the C-130J close up, as Israel is acquiring nine of these aircraft from the US under a foreign military sales arrangement. (Nevatim report by A1C Alexandria Mosness)
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.