Abundant lightning strikes are keeping California battling widespread wildfires and seeking help from Air Force firefighting aircraft, including the North Caroline Air National Guard we reported yesterday and Air Force Reserve Command’s modular airborne firefighting C-130s from Colorado. According to a June 25 release from US Northern Command, NORTHCOM has dispatched two AFRC MAFF-equipped C-130H3s from Peterson AFB, Colo., and a Defense Coordinating Element and is coordinating the Air Guard MAFF support to fight some 668 wildfires in California. “We are working with our interagency partners to support the State of California in any way we can,” said NORTCOM boss Gen. Gene Renuart.
More USAF ‘Operational Imperatives’ Likely Coming
Aug. 11, 2022
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall distilled the top fighting priorities of the Air Force and Space Force into seven “operational imperatives” chiefly as a mechanism to identify the spending transitions needed in the fiscal 2023 budget. But they are likely to persist, and more—on electronic warfare, cyber, and munitions—may be…