An initial cadre of 12 personnel from four nations has started work on the new Heavy Airlift Wing base at Papa, Hungary. NATO’s Strategic Airlift Capability partnership, which recently suffered a setback with the loss of Latvia, plans to operate three NATO C-17s from the western Hungary facility. The 12-person advance team will prepare the base for the rest of some 155 multi-national personnel that will comprise the HAW over the next several months. “We’ve already accomplished a lot of the work during the past several months, but there are still things that need to be done, said Col. John Zazworsky, HAW commander. The wing plans to begin flying operations with the arrival of the first C-17, now scheduled for spring 2009. (Ramstein report by Capt. Davian Petermann)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.