Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that the Air Force’s first HC-130J combat rescue tanker left the company’s assembly facility in Marietta, Ga., on April 3 and is now being painted prior to enter flight testing. The company said this airframe will be presented to the Air Force during an April 19 ceremony and then delivered later in the year. The new tanker is expected to enter operations in mid-2012. Final assembly of this first HC-130J began last October.
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…