Lockheed Martin delivered the first of the Iraqi air force’s C-130J transports earlier this week, announced the company. Staff Lt. Gen. Anwer Hamad Amen, Iraqi air force commander, accepted one of the first three C-130Js that Lockheed Martin is supplying this year during a Dec. 12 handover ceremony at the company’s production facility in Marietta, Ga. The two other airframes took off for Iraq on the previous day, according to the company. Iraq has ordered a total of six C-130Js to reconstitute its intratheater airlift capability. Iraq’s final three airframes are slated for delivery in 2013, states the company’s release. The initial cadre of Iraqi C-130 pilots and maintainers has been training with the Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 143rd Airlift Wing at Quonset Point ANGS, R.I., over the past few months. (See also entry from Lockheed Martin’s Code One Magazine.)
Pentagon Task Force, FAA to Test Counter-Drone Laser
March 7, 2026
The Pentagon’s counter-drone task force announced it would conduct a high-energy laser test with the Federal Aviation Administration less than a month after the use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace over El Paso, Texas.