The crew of a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 fighting fires in the northwestern United States had to make an emergency landing at Hill AFB, Utah. There were no injuries among the six-member crew in the Aug. 17 mishap, according to a Hill release. However, the C-130 sustained damage upon landing, which included a small fire breaking out, states a separate release. A photo posted online by Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 TV News showed the C-130 nose-down on Hill’s runway. The Wyoming airmen, members of Cheyenne’s 153rd Airlift Wing, became aware of a potential malfunction of the nose landing gear of their airplane and then declared an in-flight emergency. They were already scheduled to land at Hill to refuel and resupply.
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems matching $17.7 million contracts for an "Off-Board Sensing Station,” which is an unmanned aircraft that would extend a manned fighter’s sensing range and also potentially carry additional weapons for that aircraft. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts…