Airmen of Air Force Reserve Command’s 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown ARB, Ohio, are flying out of Barksdale AFB, La., to cover areas of Louisiana with insect spray to keep down flies and mosquitoes in the wake of heavy rainfall and flooding after Hurricane Ike, according to a Sept. 22 Barksdale release. The wing’s spray-modified C-130s, which deployed to Barksdale over the weekend, started the spraying operation on Sept. 21. The plan worked out with the Federal Emergency Management Agency was for the unit to blanket southwestern Louisiana and then move to other areas hard hit by the storm.
The Department of the Air Force wants to launch a construction boom with its fiscal 2027 budget, more than doubling its request over 2026, according to budget documents.