Members of the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Wing in Fargo bid farewell to their last C-21A as it flew to its new home, the National Museum of the US Air Force. Aircraft No. 84-0064 departed on Aug. 28, leaving the Happy Hooligans without a manned flying mission for the first time in the wing’s 66-year history, according to the unit’s release. This also makes North Dakota the only state whose Air Guard does not currently have a manned flying mission, states the release. The wing is transitioning to an intelligence mission, the details of which are still in the works. Meanwhile, “efforts continue to pursue a new mission that includes aircraft,” states the release. The wing’s first C-21 arrived in January 2007; it operated eight of them. The unit was preparing to switch to flying C-27J transports, but those plans fell through with the Air Force’s decision to divest the C-27J fleet. (Fargo report by Capt. Dan Murphy)
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
