A C-130 and airmen with the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., took off on Wednesday to support firefighting efforts across the Western US. The Reserve aircrew and specially equipped C-130 responded to a request for assistance from the National Interagency Fire Center as wildfires burn in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and California, according to an Air Force Reserve Command news release. The unit will soon be joined by another C-130 from the 153rd Airlift Wing of the Wyoming Air National Guard, the release states. This is the first activation of a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System aircraft so far in 2016.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.