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depot field team from Robins AFB, Ga., flew to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., to retrieve the horizontal stabilizer from a retired C-5A Galaxy that recently entered the service’s aircraft boneyard. Maintainers will take this stabilizer, or “stab” in their parlance, and place it on another C-5. The Air Force has six C-5s in the fleet that still require stab replacement by December 2012, or they will be grounded for safety reasons, according to Robins officials. Since they aren’t scheduled for programmed depot maintenance until after the deadline, they are coming to Robins just for the stab replacement. The first of them is expected to arrive at Robins later this year. It will get the stab pulled from the boneyard, said Robins officials. They said the C-5’s stab is huge: “bigger than an F-15.” (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.