The decreased wildfire threat in the Rocky Mountains region permitted two of the four C-130s still on fire alert last week at Boise Air Terminal, Idaho, to return home. “The forest service is very comfortable with where they are, in terms of fire danger,” said Col. Jerry Champlin, commander of the 153rd Air Expeditionary Group, in a July 27 release. The group oversees the activities of the Air National Guard’s and Air Force Reserve Command’s specially configured C-130s that have been fighting the wildfires across the northwestern United States since late June. Although the C-130s from AFRC’s 302nd Airlift Wing have returned to Peterson AFB, Colo., two Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped aircraft from the California Air Guard’s 146th AW remain on call at Boise, states the release. “There is some lightning in the long-term forecast, so we’re going to keep California here for now,” explained Champlin.
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.
