The first AC-130U Spectre completed accelerated programmed depot maintenance under a new program to minimize down time for high demand special operations aircraft, Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex officials announced. Technicians pushed the gunship through PDM in a record 100 days, redelivering the AC-130U on Feb. 6, well within Air Force Special Operations Command’s 152-day requirement, according to a release. “The quicker we get them out of the PDM line here, the quicker we can get them into the battlespace and also train with them back at Hurlburt Field,” AFSOC Vice Commander Maj. Gen. Eugene Haase said in a release. A total of six AC-130 gunships and MC-130 Combat Talons are slated for PDM under the command’s C-130 acceleration plan in FY16, according to officials. AFSOC reversed plans to retire five AC-130Us due to high operational demand and recapitalization delays, holding the gunship fleet at 28 AC-130U/Ws until they are replaced by the next-generation AC-130J Ghostrider.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…