The first Air Force C-27J transports will not deploy to Southwest Asia until about one year from now, but the service is already testing its concept of employment for them in Iraq using C-130s as stand-ins, Air Mobility Command spokesman TSgt. Scott Sturkol told the Daily Report Monday. The exercise is meant to mature the command and control structure and validate the requirements for the direct intratheater airlift support of the Army envisioned with the C-27J, according to AMC. Although the Air Force is taking over the sole lead of the C-27J program from the Army, the land service is still in charge of the operational testing with the two C-27Js already in the inventory for the sake of programmatic continuity as the Air Force stands up its C-27J program office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, said Sturkol. (Includes Scott report by TSgt. Scott T. Sturkol)
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.