Thursday, October 22, 2015

165th AW gets Hercules Upgrades

by Tech. Sgt. Amber Williams
165th AW


10/20/2015 - Savannah, Ga. -- The 165th Airlift Wing, Georgia Air National Guard received the first of eight C-130 Hercules upgrades, here, Oct. 15.

The 165th AW will be replacing the C-130H2s to the C-130H2.5 and C-130H3 which are approximately fifteen years newer. The newer aircraft are expected to replace the current fleet throughout 2016.

"Basically, we're getting a newer model of the C-130. With the replacements we are gaining enhanced navigational capability, electronic flight instrumentation whereas before all of our gages were analog, and improved autopilot system," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Drew, Inspector General and C-130 Hercules pilot for the 165th Airlift Wing. "The greatest advancement is that we now have a Master Caution and Warning System which will audibly announce when something could be wrong."

"These upgrades will significantly contribute to how the 165th Airlift Wing executes our State and Federal missions and allow us to be better prepared for worldwide contingencies," said Col. Rainer Gomez the 165th Airlift Wing Commander.  "It also means we will have the ability to sustain operations with newer Aircraft thus allowing us a longer future as a Guard unit."

The 165th Airlift Wing has approximately 1,400 Airmen and supports both State and Federal missions and has deployed in support of worldwide contingencies such as Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring freedom.

No comments: