NATO’s Heavy Airlift Wing at Papa AB, Hungary, recently opened a new hangar, allowing aircrew to work on C-17s year-round and increasing aircraft availability. The hangar complex, which has been under construction for the last three years, will allow aircrews to paint, wash, and provide maintenance on the three C-17s, which are shared by 10 NATO countries, as well as Finland and Sweden. Previously the aircraft needed to return to the continental US for maintenance, according to a US Air Forces in Europe release. The complex also includes a climate-controlled supply warehouse, a vehicle workshop, and an aerial port, according to USAFE. The Strategic Airlift Capability consortium is made up of some 250 troops, including about 60 USAF airmen. The countries have a 30-year agreement to share the C-17s, the release states. (For more information on the hangar, see also: Please Options.)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…