Two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters simultaneously surpassed 10,000 flight hours on a sortie from Kirtland AFB, N.M., last week. “I’m humbled to get the chance to take the very aircraft I used to fly when it had double-digit flight time and fly it past the 10,000-hour mark,” said Rod Reay of M1 Support Services, who is the 58th Special Operations Wing’s chief HH-60 pilot, following the mission. Both Pave Hawk 644, to which Reay was referring, and Pave Hawk 680 joined the 58th SOW with less than 5,000 flight hours in 1994. “It is a true testament to the Air Force’s military, civilian, and contract maintainers that an aircraft produced with an original lifespan of 7,000 flying hours is now surpassing the 10,000-hour mark,” said Reay. The Air Force has been using Pave Hawks since 1982. USAF officials last month announced that the projected fielding date of a Pave Hawk successor may slip by as much as three years to 2018. (Kirtland report by Connie Rankin)
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
