Lockheed 
Martin issued an artist’s rendering of its new C-130XJ transport concept. The company is marketing the new variant as a lower cost option to nations that might not be able to afford a full-up C-130J like those in the Air Force’s inventory, or that do not have the same intense mission demands for an airlifter. The C-130XJ features the operational capabilities of the baseline C-130J, such as the same powerplants, company officials have said. Among the differences, it would utilize the legacy cargo-handling system used on older C-130 models in place of the C-130J’s fully automated cargo-handling system and underfloor winch, they have said.
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…