Two KC-135R Stratotankers and more than 50 F-15E Strike Eagles, which evacuated Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., in the wake of Hurricane Arthur, returned to the base on July 4. The aircraft fled to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, as the storm prepared to touch down in eastern North Carolina. “The storm passed and our combat assets are safe,” said 4th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Mark Slocum in a base statement. The flexibility of both the 4th FW and the 916th Air Refueling Wing personnel exemplified “what ‘one team, one fight’ means in our Air Force” and displayed “the remarkable flexibility of our service and the exemplary professionalism of our airmen,” he added.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…