Members of the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing at Bradley ANG Base in East Granby recently spent a day with a C-27J transport. L-3 and Alenia, the C-27J industry team, sponsored the visit to Bradley, one of the Air Guard sites selected to operate the new tactical airlifter. The wing currently flies C-21s; its first C-27 is scheduled to arrive in the latter part of 2013. “It was awesome. I’ve never seen a cockpit that nice in my life. Everything is glass, everything is automated, it flies real smooth,” said Maj. Josh Panis, one of the wing’s pilots, in describing his experience aboard the aircraft. The Oct. 22 visit to Bradley followed a similar familiarization day eight days earlier at Fargo, N.D., home of the 119th Wing. The North Dakota unit is slated to begin C-27 operations in early 2013. (Bradley report by TSgt. Joshua Mead)
Multiple U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters have deployed to the strategic outpost of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to protect the myriad of assets deployed there, including strategic bombers.