combat aircraft

MAFFS TRAINING

AIR FORCE RESERVE Command

and Air National Guard C-130s from

four states deployed to McClellan

Field in Sacramento, California,

during the week of April 23-27 to

take part in annual Modular

Airborne Fire Fighting System

(MAFFS) training prior to the start

of wild re season. A total of eight

MAFFS units are employed

including the 152nd Airlift Wing,

Nevada ANG, as pictured here.

‘CAG-BIRD’ CORNER

GOOD NEWS FOR US Navy

fans is that orders to tone

down colorful ‘CAG-birds’ have

been re-evaluated. A number

of the squadrons had already

complied with the order, but full

color markings have now been

approved. Pictured at NAS Fallon,

Nevada, on May 2, EA-18G BuNo

168765 from VAQ-134 ‘Garudas’

(below) still retained its colorful

looks. Jim Dunn

SPIRIT CHANGES

THE 394TH COMBAT Training

Squadron, which had been tasked

as the formal training unit for

the B-2A under the 509th Bomb

Wing/Operations Group, was

inactivated on April 13. The unit’s

personnel were reassigned to

the 13th Bomb Squadron, which

assumed the training role. The

move leaves the wing’s 393rd

Bomb Squadron as the USAF’s

only operational B-2A unit.

The bulk of the personnel that

had been assigned to the 13th

were transferred to the 393rd

Bomb Squadron.

CARRIER NEWS

THE US NAVY has announced

that the aircraft carrier USS George

Washington (CVN 73) will return

to Japan after its mid-life refueling

and complex overhaul (RCOH) is

completed in 2021. Upon returning

to US Fleet Activities Yokosuka,

Japan, it will replace the USS Ronald

Reagan (CVN 76) as the navy’s

only forward-deployed aircraft

carrier. The four-year RCOH began

in August 2017 when the ship

entered dry-dock at Huntington

Ingalls Industries’ Newport News

Shipbuilding facility in Virginia.

On April 30, Huntington Ingalls

announced that the new USS John

F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is 75 per cent

structurally complete. The news

followed the recent installation of

the forward area of the ship’s main

deck. The  rst sections of the ship’s

 ight deck were also installed,

along with the  rst two generators

for the electromagnetic aircraft

launch system (EMALS). The keel

for the second ship in the Gerald

Ford class of carriers was laid at

the Newport News Shipbuilding

facility in August 2015. The Kennedy

is scheduled to be christened in

the fourth quarter of 2019 and

will be delivered to the US Navy

during 2022.

Jim Dunn

[NEWS] UNITED STATES

10 July 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

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