The Air Force’s latest factory-fresh HC-130J rescue aircraft last week arrived at its new home at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., from Lockheed Martin’s production plant in Marietta, Ga., announced the company. Aircraft number 5719 touched down at the Arizona base on April 3, according to the company’s release. It is the Air Force’s ninth new HC-130J overall, and the seventh assigned to Davis-Monthan, states the release. The service intends to acquire 37 HC-130Js in total; to date, 15 of them are on order. Air Combat Command and Air Education and Training Command operate these platforms. Aircraft number 5717, the previous HC-130J off the production line, arrived at Davis-Monthan in early March.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…