The last
of 16 C-130J transports destined for the 41st Airlift Squadron at Little Rock AFB, Ark., arrived at the base July 7. Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, commander of Air Mobility Command’s 18th Air Force, flew the Super Hercules from Lockheed Martin’s assembly plant in Marietta, Ga. He said it was an honor “second to none” to bring this C-130J to Little Rock. The 41st AS is the first active-duty combat-delivery C-130J unit in the Air Force. The unit first deployed some of its C-130Js to Southwest Asia in early 2008. And this part March, elements of the unit began operating from Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. According to Lockheed, the 41st AS has racked up 2,600 combat sorties and 4,000 flight hours in the past two years, carrying a total of 56,000 passengers and 3,500 tons of cargo. (Little Rock report by SrA. Nathan Allen) (See also Lockheed Martin’s release)
The Next-Generation Air Dominance Fighter is Air Combat Command’s top priority, because without it, the Air Force can’t provide the control of the air the whole military depends on to operate, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said. He also named a replacement for the E-3 AWACS, new…