The C-130 Hercules schoolhouse at Little Rock AFB, Ark., has been facing some challenges over the past few years—a surging demand for Hercs in Southwest Asia and loss of many airframes to center wing box crack problems—that led to a growing backlog of students. Air Education and Training Command has some good news this week however, noting that the 314th Airlift Wing went from a 73 percent on-time graduation rate in February to 97 percent as of June 1—the result of a little help from friends. Read more here.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.