2015
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HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The first AC-130U Spooky gunship to retire from the active fleet flew from its home here following a small ceremony Sept. 21. The gunship, named "Bad Omen," was delivered to Hurlburt Field Feb. 17, 1995. Following the ceremony, "Bad Omen" flew to it's retirement home with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Base, Ariz. "'Bad Omen' flew more than 2,300 sorties with approximately 5,600 landings and accumulated more than 10,000 hours," said Karl Cirulis, 4th Special Operations Squadron pilot. "'Bad Omen' was last deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in December 2013 where it accumulated approximately 600 …
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5/6/2015 - YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- As U.S. efforts to support the Government of Nepal recover from the earthquake that struck the country April 25, the 374th Airlift Wing sent four C-130 Hercules and accompanying personnel to aid Joint Task Force-505 in its mission. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Central Nepal, resulting in more than 7,000 people reported dead and 14,000 more injured in days since the incident. As the only tactical airlift capability in the Western Pacific, Yokota's 36th Airlift Squadron is extremely capable of supporting the JTF in its efforts, as they consistently train and exercise to operate in this same exact type of environment, says Ca…
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The 440th Airlift Wing will live on, at least for another year. Air Force Reserve Command has pushed back the inactivation of the unit until at least fall 2016. The 440th had been slated to be inactivated in September, the latest in a series of end dates that have been proposed since the unit was marked for inactivation in March 2014. The latest delay was announced by Col. Karl Schmitkons, commander of the 440th, in a July edition of the unit's newsletter, Combat Airlifter. In the newsletter, Schmitkons says the reduction in force that was set for Sept. 30 was canceled, along with a planned clearing house for the unit's civilian employees and Air Reserve technicians. …
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The fiscal year 2016 budget proposal for the Air Force continues a multi-year procurement of C-130 transport aircraft and its variants. Multi-year buys allow a service to sign contracts for longer periods without having to seek yearly approval from Congress. Fiscal year 2016 will see the acquisition of 14 C-130J Hercules, five HC-130, which support personnel recovery, and eight MC-130s used by Air Force Special Operations Command. See full story: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.o...t.aspx?ID=1732 View full article
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The head of US Air Force Special Operations Command has issued a “JFK challenge” to the defence industry to install a high-power electric laser on an AC-130 gunship by the end of the decade. Lt Gen Bradley Heithold says just as US president John F Kennedy wanted to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, he wants a laser-armed gunship by 2020. The commander issued the challenge at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington this week. He wants the system to weigh less than 2,268kg (5,000lbs) and occupy a space no greater than one gun position on the latest AC-130J “Ghostrider” gunship. The general first announced his pursuit of a laser gunship in February, bu…
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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing has been selected as the recipient of the Airlift/Tanker Association's 2015 Lieutenant General James E. Sherrard III award. According to award information on the Airlift/Tanker Association web site, the Sherrard Award recognizes the Air Force Reserve Command's outstanding wing or group contributing to the overall success of the Mobility Air Force mission and the total force. Additionally, the unit that best embodies the spirit and essence of today's global mobility operations, maintaining a viable strategic reserve for tomorrow while embracing responsibilities to their civilian emplo…
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On Tuesday Wyoming's Congressional delegation wrote a letter to United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Robert Bonnie. The letter states that the delegation is aware that the U.S. Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management's' CH-130H program is actively seeking a location for a long term facility, and the delegation has suggested two Wyoming locations including on in the Big Horn Basin. On Wyoming entity that has expressed interest is B&G Industries in Greybull. In the letter it's stated they told the delegation they have a state-of-the-art hanger facility that could accommodate two of the aircraft with an additional 60,000 feet of hanger and storage…
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The company will also provide logistics support for the US Marines KC-130J transport aircraft. These four-engined planes are equipped with air-to-air tanking equipment that allows them to refuel other aircraft in flight. Under the terms of the $63.5m arrangement, Rolls-Royce will also support similar aircraft in service with Kuwait’s military. Read the entire article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/11675943/Rolls-Royce-lands-deals-to-support-foreign-miltary-planes.html View full article
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Air Force Special Operations Command’s top officer said he wanted to explore the possibility of adding a laser or directed energy weapon to the AC-130J Ghostrider. Air Force Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, head of AFSOC, told a crowd at NDIA’s SO/LIC conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday that he thought the technology was mature enough to install a laser weapon onto the AC-130J gunship. The Air Force has already decided it will mount a 105mm cannon onto the newest variant of the gunship after the Air Force chose to limit the W-model to smart bombs and the 30mm cannon. Heithold explained that the 105mm cannon was needed because it was more accurate and cheaper than f…
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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base will continue to be home to eight C-130s despite plans in President Barack Obama's 2013 budget request to move the aircraft, citing a need for greater efficiency. U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-Dist 2) confirmed Monday the planes will be staying in Montgomery after the state's delegation sought to keep in place a temporary 2012 decision not to move forward with the transfer. The planes support more than 550 jobs in Montgomery. The U.S. Air Force suspended the planes' transfer in November 2012 after Alabama's Congressional Delegation began scrutinizing the plan, which the Obama administration said was part of ef…
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David Pirie is a technical sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, but he has a much cooler title: dropmaster. He's part of the crew of a "Hurricane Hunter," one of the snub-nose C-130 cargo planes the Air Force has retrofitted to fly into storms to gather data. The thing Pirie drops out the belly of the massive plane is tiny - about the size of a mailing tube. The orange parachute that hangs off it looks like it could fit a plastic Army man. But the information it gathers from hurricanes is huge. Pirie showed off the tool - called a dropsonde - on Tuesday. One of the Air Force's 10 Hurricane Hunters was at Norfolk International Airport as part of the National Oceanic and Atm…
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The US Air Force's (USAF) 86th and 182nd Airlift Wings are participating in bilateral training with the Polish Air Force at Powdiz Air Base, Poland, focusing on maintaining joint readiness while building interoperability. Conducted during Aviation Detachment 16-1 in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the training saw the participation of C-130s from both wings along with around 150 personnel. Polish Air Force 33rd Air Transport Base commander colonel Mieczyslaw Gaudyn said: "It's important for us to work together and reach a similar level of training." "It's also important for us to build this friendship and brotherhood, to be able to count …
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Lockheed Martin hopes to boost the popularity of its C-130J tactical transport and in-development LM-100J commercial freighter by establishing a new international training centre for the types. To be set up at its Marietta production site in Georgia, the centre is scheduled to open during the first quarter of 2018, says Vic Torla, business director for training solutions at Lockheed’s Mission Systems and Training business unit. “We’ve been aware of increasing demand for some time now,” says Torla, who notes that the US Air Force’s capacity to provide training for international C-130J customers at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas is reducing as it shifts to operating more of …
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A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 landed safely at Kona International Airport Friday after a midair hydraulic failure led to the declaration of an emergency landing at 10:44 a.m. It was originally reported the landing gear would not come down, raising the possibility that the airplane would have to land on its belly, said FAA Southwest Region spokesman Lynn Lunsford. Firefighters responded to the airport and watched the airplane come in for a landing with gear deployed. Lunsford said there were no injuries reported. The C-130 Hercules is a transport aircraft used for multiple missions, including dropping life rafts, dewatering pumps or dispersant for oil pollution control. On …
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lynden Air Cargo's L-100 Hercules aircraft is being put to use flying relief supplies to Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone Pam devastated the South Pacific Islands March 13. Communications company Digicel Fiji chartered a Lynden Air Cargo plane from Nadi, Fiji, to the capital city of Port Vila within days of the cyclone. It was loaded with food rations and technical equipment to repair towers and networks to restore communications throughout the islands. Now working with the World Food Program (WFP), Lynden continues to pick up more supplies from Brisbane, Australia, for air delivery to Port Vila in support of humanitarian ef…
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The Arkansas Air National Guard is close to completely taking over a new mission that has prompted growth in its number of personnel and aircraft over the past two years. The National Guard's 189th Airlift Wing, located at Little Rock Air Force Base, has trained instructors on the C-130H -- aircraft designed to airdrop troops and equipment into hostile areas -- since 1986. In October 2013, the U.S. Air Force added to the 189th's responsibilities, tasking it with training all C-130H flight crews, from the U.S. and partner nations, and bumping up the number of airmen it trains annually from about 350 to about 800. Col. Dom Sarnataro, commander of the 189th Operations Grou…
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The House Armed Services Committee advanced an amendment sponsored by Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke that will now go to a full vote as part of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill. The amendment directs the secretary of the Air Force to prepare a brief to the committee by Sept. 1 that assesses the locations of C-130 Military Airborne FireFighting Systems. "Montana and other Western states have seen devastating wildfires rage through our lands, taking entire communities and leaving countless fatalities in their wake," Zinke, R-Mont., said in a release. "My amendment will allow the Air Force to improve wildfire readiness and move firefighting capabilities to western …
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The US Air Force has kept some Lockheed Martin AC-130U gunships marked for retirement for use as directed energy weapon testbeds as the service pursues airborne lasers for offensive and defensive uses. Maj Gen Jerry Harris, vice-chief of Air Combat Command, says a number of gunships that would have otherwise been sent to the boneyard are now being used to test emerging directed energy technologies, like lasers and microwave energy guns. “We have a requirement for a minimum number of gunships,” Harris said at a 28 July Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments directed energy summit in Washington. “We have some additional U-models we will fly longer for test beds.” …
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Spirit Aeronautics has successfully developed an avionics upgrade program that is aimed at modernising Lockheed C-130H/L-382 Hercules aircraft. The new development will give the aircraft new landing technology in addition to NextGen capabilities such as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B can be integrated with flight management systems (FMS) in order to deliver increased safety and reduced aircrew workload, the company stated. Spirit Aeronautics president and COO Tony Bailey said: "We established a team of experts and centered their efforts towards creating a modernisation path for operators that utilise commercially available and proven systems …
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On the eve of the International Training and Education Conference (ITEC), Europe’s largest show for simulation and training, CAE and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) congratulate the Royal Air Force (RAF) on having operated its C-130J total training system for more than 15 years. The RAF was the launch customer for the C-130J Super Hercules, and the team of Lockheed Martin and CAE delivered the comprehensive aircrew and maintenance training system that entered service at RAF Lyneham in early 2000. Since its relocation to RAF Brize Norton, home of the RAF’s transport and tanker aircraft fleets, the C-130J total training system continues to support the aircrews and technicians …
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AAR, a provider of aviation services has been awarded a five-year, approximately $72 million Complete Logistics Support (CLS) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract to sustain a fleet of C-130H aircraft on behalf of the Afghan Air Force. Under the contract with the U.S. Air Force, AAR will provide all operational, maintenance, logistics and technical functions needed to support and sustain fleet readiness requirements within Afghanistan. See more at: http://www.arabianaerospace.aero/aar-wins-contract-to-support-afghan-c-130-fleet.html#sthash.ys7J4u6x.dpuf View full article
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The seventh C-130 at the Ohio National Guard's 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield Lahm Airport has a new name. About twenty-five local government and community leaders from Ashland were at the base Thursday for the dedication of the Spirit of Ashland, with Mayor Glen Stewart having the honor of unveiling the plant's new name. Of the eight C-130's at the 179th, another two planes remain to be re-named for local communities. The dedication of the Spirit of Crestline will be in two weeks and there will be a dedication of a C-130 for the community of Galion. The others are the Spirits of Mansfield, Shelby, Clear Fork Valley, Ontario, and Lexington. View original article …
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YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The newest version of the Air Force’s C-130 Hercules transport is coming to Japan, where its increased cargo capacity, power and range should help in disaster relief and other missions across the Pacific, according to officials at Yokota Air Base and aircraft maker Lockheed-Martin.“We’re looking at transitioning from our H-model (C-130s) to the (newer) J-models,” 374th Airlift Wing Vice Commander Col. Clarence Lukes Jr. said recently, adding that the C-130Js are scheduled to arrive at Yokota in 2017.The 374th flies 14 C-130s on missions throughout the western Pacific. Aircraft from Yokota helped out after Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami and Ty…
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The first flight of an Israeli air force Lockheed Martin C-130H equipped with a new avionics suite is expected to take place soon, according to a senior officer from the service. "The new suite will make the cockpit very similar to operate to that of the C-130J we have recently put into service," says the officer, with work on the legacy transport almost complete. Israel's C-130H avionics upgrade is being conducted by Elbit Systems at the air force's Nevatim base. The package of enhancements will allow the tactical transport aircraft to meet the stringent international Communications Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management standard for operations in commercia…
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MANILA, Philippines - In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda, the government is eyeing the acquisition of additional C-130 cargo planes – the workhorse in the relief effort. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, meanwhile, wants P1.5 billion allocated for the repair of three C-130 planes of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). “The recent tragic events have proven one indisputable point: C-130s are essential transport,” Recto said. “They should be high up on the list of disaster response equipment. Their purchase should be part of disaster preparation.” Based on PAF estimates, the cost of refurbishing one C-130 would reach P500 million. Armed Forces chief Gen. Em…
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