The Air Force has let a $61 million contract to Boeing for two C-130 avionics upgrade kits, along with two aircrew training system devices, announced the company. This work is part of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program’s low-rate initial production phase. Under C-130 AMP, the Air Force is updating the cockpits of 221 C-130H2, -H2.5, and-H3 transports. Boeing has now received orders for six of the 26 AMP kits planned during LRIP. The Pentagon increased that number from 20 last December. Already, workers at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga., are installing AMP kits on two C-130s at Warner Robins and expect to complete them this year. Boeing said the depot would induct the third C-130 late this year and the fourth one early next year for the upgrade. The two training devices are destined for Little Rock AFB, Ark., with delivery anticipated in 2014.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.