Pacific Airlift Rally 2015, hosted by Pacific Air Forces, is underway in Alaska and is using a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief simulation to give participating allies and partners the chance to cooperate and learn about airlift operations in the Asia-Pacific region, PACAF officials said. The 10th iteration of the biennial event kicked off on Aug. 22 at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and runs until Aug. 28. Events include information seminars, expert briefings, a command post exercise focusing on military airlift support for natural disasters, as well as a field training exercise. The events aim to build interoperability between airlift planners, aircrews, and maintainers among allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to USAF personnel, participants include airmen and military personnel from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and Vietnam. The field training event involves a USAF C-130H from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB, Japan, a C-130H and HH-60G Pave Hawk from the 176th AW at Eielson AFB, Alaska, as well as a Royal Australian Air Force C-130J and a Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130H.
When an E-3 Sentry battle management aircraft was damaged in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, it sparked a host of questions about one of the Air Force’s oldest, smallest, but most critical fleets. Experts say the service doesn’t have many options to answer those questions.