Air Force and Boeing technicians at Robins AFB, Ga., recently installed a new glass cockpit on the first C-130H transport to receive this upgrade under the low-rate initial production phase of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program. This aircraft is now in functional testing. A second aircraft is about 85 percent through the upgrade process, which adds new air-traffic management, defensive suites, navigation instruments, and instrument landings systems to the legacy Hercules airframes. “There is a tremendous amount of modification required to take the plane from where it was at to where we’re going,” said Randy Odell, C-130 AMP deputy flight chief with Robins’ 560th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. The first aircraft, as the pathfinder for Robins’ modification line, required a good deal of troubleshooting in order to smooth the upgrade process for later aircraft, explained Odell. Two additional C-130s are scheduled to arrive later this fiscal year for the AMP work. (Robins report by Jenny Gordon)
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…