After four months as part of an expeditionary C-130J airlift unit in Afghanistan, active duty airmen and Reservists from Keesler AFB, Miss., have returned home, having set several airdrop records. These airmen—members of Air Force Reserve Command’s 815th Airlift Squadron and 403rd Maintenance Group and the active duty 345th AS—joined with personnel from the 41st AS at Little Rock AFB, Ark., between January and May to make up the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. During their deployment, these airmen completed a total of 261 airdrops, delivering 5.6 million pounds of cargo and establishing monthly marks for completed airdrops, culminating with 81 in April. In August 2010, the 345th AS and 815th AS joined together to form the Air Force’s first C-130J Total Force integrated unit. (Keesler release)
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
