A team of 20 active duty airmen, Air National Guardsmen, and Air Force Reservists is responsible for in-theater upkeep of the T-56 engines and propellers used on C-130 transports in Southwest Asia. They form the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron’s C-130 engine centralized repair facility. Their forward presence saves the Air Force time and money and helps keep more C-130s available to support operations, according to members of the unit. “We save the Air Force more than $17 million a year in depot and transportation costs,” said MSgt. Reginald Lytch, 379 EMXS propulsion flight chief. On average, the group overhauls and tests more than 180 C-130 propellers, and repairs and tests more than 35 T-56 turboprop engines annually. (379th AEW report by SrA. Spencer Gallien)
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…