A team of 20 active duty airmen, Air National Guardsmen, and Air Force Reservists is responsible for in-theater upkeep of the T-56 engines and propellers used on C-130 transports in Southwest Asia. They form the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron’s C-130 engine centralized repair facility. Their forward presence saves the Air Force time and money and helps keep more C-130s available to support operations, according to members of the unit. “We save the Air Force more than $17 million a year in depot and transportation costs,” said MSgt. Reginald Lytch, 379 EMXS propulsion flight chief. On average, the group overhauls and tests more than 180 C-130 propellers, and repairs and tests more than 35 T-56 turboprop engines annually. (379th AEW report by SrA. Spencer Gallien)
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.