Kandahar Rigging for Surge: 
A C-130J transport operating with the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (activated last winter) from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on Jan. 27 dropped 56 containerized delivery systems full of supplies over three different drop zones within that nation, setting a single-day, single-aircraft record for the unit. This mission was a test to gauge how well the unit will be able to execute greater numbers of airdrops in coming months to support the continuing US troop surge in Afghanistan. The Army is establishing a CDS rigging facility at Kandahar as part of the surge that will enable CDS bundles to be built and loaded on the C-130Js at Kandahar vice the aircraft having to fly to Bagram for this. “We’re expecting to see about a 250 percent increase in number of airdrops we can support here,” said Maj. Joe Framptom, a 772nd EAS operations officer. (Kandahar report by SSgt. Angelique N. Smythe)
The Department of the Air Force has identified 50 programs that will make up the core of its contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control effort, branding them part of the “DAF Battle Network,” according to newly-released budget documents. The DAF Battle Network programs span multiple offices and agencies…