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)
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.