The 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, slowly is shedding its old C-130E airlifters, sending off a 44-year-old recently, but the wing must maintain most of its elderly Hercules through the 2009-11 timeframe. The wing doesn’t begin to get the new J model until 2009 and expects to receive its full complement over the following two years. A1C Kenny Holston reports that the Ramstein folks got a preview as the Rhode Island Air National Guard’s 143rd Airlift Wing flew one of its C-130Js to the German base. The Air Guard wing was to get its eighth and final J model this year.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, is now on the production…