The Air Force’s sixth new-build HC-130J personnel recovery airplane left Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Marietta, Ga., on Thursday, bound for Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., announced the company. Maj. Gen. Timothy Zadalis, Air Education and Training Command’s director of intelligence, operations, and nuclear integration, flew aircraft number 5709 to Davis-Monthan, states the company’s Dec. 6 release. The Air Force has plans to acquire 37 of these specially configured platforms, dubbed Combat King IIs, to replace its legacy HC-130N/P fleet. To date, 15 HC-130Js are on order. The previously completed one departed Marietta for Davis-Monthan on Nov. 29.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth vowed to undertake far-reaching reforms on the way the U.S. military buys weapons, promising a sweeping overhaul of the way the Defense Department determines requirements, handles the acquisition process, and tests its kit. The fundamental goal, which Hegseth underscored in a 1-hour and 10-minute speech…
