U.S. Southern Command wrapped up its humanitarian mission to Haiti on Sept. 3 flying the last of 671 missions after the island nation was ravaged by an earthquake and tropical storm. The logistics were achieved thanks the Arkansas Air National Guard, Puerto Rico National Guard, ...
The Afghan Air Force was once considered the Kabul government’s lethal advantage over the Taliban. Now, aircraft and personnel that have not left the country may fall into Taliban hands, but sources say maintenance problems and insufficient aircrews likely will diminish their value. However, in ...
As C-17s and C-130s lofted thousands of Americans and Afghan nationals fleeing from Kabul International Airport, Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. James C. "Jim" Slife articulated many of the mixed reactions of the tens of thousands of American service men and women ...
A C-130 from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., went to Haiti over the weekend, carrying a team from U.S. Southern Command to assess the impact of a massive earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation Aug. 14. The 14-member SOUTHCOM Situational Awareness Team will work ...
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Military Sales of Air Force systems are on pace to eclipse fiscal 2020 levels, the head of USAF's Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate said Aug. 5. Transfers have centered on F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, A-29s, and MQ-9 drones. Despite a push ...
Firefighting technology hasn’t changed much from the days when Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson dropped buckets of water from a UH-60 Black Hawk, and his brother, a smokejumper, parachuted in to fight wildfires on foot. What has changed is the ...
A pair of House Armed Services subcommittees, in markups of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, pushed back on some Air Force efforts to divest of legacy platforms while also pressing the service to examine the issue of ejection seat safety. On July 27, the ...
High temperatures and drought across the West are sparking an almost unprecedented operations tempo for Air Force firefighting C-130s and aircrews. C-130s from three Air National Guard wings and an Air Force Reserve wing are flying missions with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System, supporting the ...
The Air Force faces an uphill fight with its plans to cut five units worth of C-130s, largely from the Guard and Reserve. The service, however, says the tactical airlift fleet can afford to absorb some risk and that there could be future lift possibilities ...
A third specially equipped Air Force C-130 joined firefighting efforts in California this week as flames burn in five large fires in northern California. The Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130H from the Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing began operating out of the former ...
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft of the fiscal 2022 defense budget on June 29, adding C-130s and MQ-9s to the Air Force’s budget request while leaving the service’s request for F-35s and F-15EXs untouched.
With more than 1.3 million acres already damaged in wildfires this year and 56 large fires currently raging, the Air National Guard activated a specially equipped C-130 and crew to aid firefighting efforts across the western U.S. The National Interagency Fire Center requested the Guard's ...