A C-130 aircrew deployed from the 463rd Airlift Wing at Little Rock AFB, Ark., to the 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Balad AB, Iraq, performed the first use of the joint precision air drop system over Iraq on Feb. 16. The Hercules crew delivered six 1,200-pound bundles using the Air Force-Army GPS-guided JPADS. The first combat drop of the new system took place last year over Afghanistan. The joint development effort features Air Force software using an advanced weather model and Army steerable parachutes employing GPS satellite navigation data that enable the airlift crew to precisely deliver supplies from up to 25,000 feet altitude, providing faster and safer air drops. The JPADS development effort started in 1997.
NORTHCOM’s Budget Priority: Longer Warning Time
April 14, 2021
Gen. Glen D. VanHerck's top priorities in the upcoming budget are domain awareness in the form of farther-seeing over-the-horizon radars, followed by submarine detection capabilities and joint all-domain command and control, the commander of U.S. Northern Command told members of the House Armed Services Committee on April 14. Before building…