To help maintainers learn the new avionics modernization program upgrades on the C-5 Galaxy aircraft they will be fixing, Air Mobility Command and Air Education and Training Command commissioned a special simulator to train them. Called the Combined Avionics Systems Trainer, the simulator provides hands-on experience trouble-shooting a problem, eliminating the need to train on real airplanes. MSgt. Mark Ruehr, C-5 trainer development team chief, said: “The problem with working on an actual aircraft is the inability to break something so students can learn how to fix it. We can’t cut a wire on a plane just for training purposes.” CAST supports both AMP and pre-AMP systems and should be available for current maintainers this month and for technical school students by November.
As the Pentagon increasingly pivots its focus to strategic competition with China, the U.S. will look to expand its partnership with South Korea to increase security across the entire Indo-Pacific region, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said Dec. 2 during a visit to the northeastern Asian nation.