Super arrival

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft sits on the flightline March 27. The plane was carrying a heat shield for the Orion spacecraft to be delivered to Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Mass., to have a protective coating applied to it. (U.S. Air Force photo by Walter Santos)

Super arrival

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – A heat shield for the Orion spacecraft is unloaded from NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft on the flightline March 27. The heat shield is being delivered to Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Mass., to have a protective coating applied to it. (U.S. Air Force photo by Walter Santos)

Super arrival

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – A heat shield for the Orion spacecraft is unloaded from NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft on the flightline March 27. The heat shield is being delivered to Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Mass., to have a protective coating applied to it. (U.S. Air Force photo by Walter Santos)

Super arrival

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft sits on the flightline March 27. The plane was carrying a heat shield for the Orion spacecraft to be delivered to Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Mass., to have a protective coating applied to it. (U.S. Air Force photo by Walter Santos)

P-40 Restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. - Fredrick Smith sands the top of the P-40 in the motor pool bay on Aug. 30. After the display aircraft is spruced up and repainted, it will be returned to its pedestal at the corner of Marrett Street and Vandenberg Drive. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry))

P-40 Restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. - George Bennett (right) and Fredrick Smith, from Civil Engineering, remove a piece of the P-40 for refurbishing Aug. 29. The static display aircraft is currently undergoing restoration at the motor pool complex. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

P-40 removal and restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Workers remove the wings from the P-40 Aug. 1 in order to make transportation to the motor pool easier. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

P-40 removal and restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – The P-40 is lowered on to a cradle after being removed from a pedestal Aug. 1. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

P-40 removal and restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Workers prepare to remove the P-40 from is pedestal Aug. 1. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

P-40 removal and restoration

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. - Workers arrive to begin removal of the P-40 from its pedestal Aug. 1. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

Saudi Arabian AWACS E-3

A Saudi Arabian Airborne Warning and Control System E-3 aircraft takes off from Seattle, Wash. The Electronic Systems Center recently awarded a contract to enhance and improve the capabilities of the Saudi aircraft. (Courtesy photo)

On approach

A Bulgarian aircraft approaches the runway at Dolna Mitropolia Airbase in June. There, an Electronic Systems Center and contractor team completed a Foreign Military Sales case that provided a Tactical Air Navigation System to the NATO-member nation. (Courtesy Photo)

Marines come to Hanscom

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Red Sox player Jacoby Ellsbury checks out the cockpit of a Marine helicopter stationed on the flight line here. Members of the Red Sox organization visited on May 7 as part of Marine Week Boston activities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

Marines come to Hanscom

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Red Sox player Mike Lowell steps off a V-22 Osprey after a ride over Boston. Members of the Red Sox organization visited here on May 7 as part of Marine Week Boston activities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

Marines come to Hanscom

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Participants prepare to board a V-22 Osprey to take a ride over Boston as part of media day on May 4 for Marine Week Boston. The Marines staged aircraft and equipment here for Marine Week Boston activities through May 9. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

Marines come to Hanscom

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – A V-22 Osprey lands at Hanscom after taking members of the media, area city leaders, Airmen and others on a ride over Boston as part of media day on May 4 for Marine Week Boston. The Marines staged aircraft and equipment here for Marine Week Boston activities through May 9. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Berry)

BACN takes off

A BD-700 equipped with the full suite of Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) equipment takes off from Wichita Airport in Kansas earlier this month. The Electronic Systems Center’s BACN Joint Urgent Operational Need team received one of two John J. Welch, Jr. Awards for Excellence in Acquisition Leadership March 10. Col. Cordell DeLaPena, 653rd Electronic Systems Group commander, was also named an Air Force Outstanding System Program Director. (Courtesy Photo)

Joint STARS gains new engines

The 751st Electronic Systems Group's E-8C Joint STARS test aircraft, T-3, performs flight testing with JT8D-219 engines during a December deployment to Edwards AFB, Calif. In February, the 633rd Electronic Systems Squadron awarded two major contract actions to continue the Joint STARS Re-engining program's system design and development phase activities. (Courtesy photo)

French AWACS in flight

French AWACS E-3F aircraft, like the one in flight here, will soon be improved. The Electronic Systems Center recently awarded a contract to upgrade the French AWACS fleet with more modern capabilities. (Courtesy photo)

Combat Track II in use

An aircrew member uses the Combat Track II system, the 500th of which was delivered to the field last month. CT II allows crew aboard the air mobility fleet, as well as on some bombers, to maintain full awareness of friendly and potential hostile aircraft positions. It also alerts them to ground threats, including mobile surface-to-air missile sites. (Courtesy Photo)

85th APS Deactivitation

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. - The aerial port training aid, which belongs to the 85th Aerial Port Squadron, sits at Hanscom following repairs made by squadrons within the 913th Airlift Wing from Willow Grove Air Reserve Station, Penn., in 2006. The future of the wingless C-130 APTA, nicknamed ‘Old 5019’ because of its tail number, is uncertain. The 85 APS deactivates Sept. 13 at 11 a.m. during a ceremony held at the Hanscom Aero Club Hangar after nearly 50 years of aerial port operations supporting the nation’s wartime and peacetime military and humanitarian campaigns since 1960. (U.S. Air Force file photo)

AWACS gets new seats

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- A maintenance crew member at Tinker AFB, Okla., installs a new operator stations seat aboard an E-3 AWACS recently. The new seats are expected to help alleviate back and neck stress for crews on long-duration missions. (Courtesy Photo)

AWACS testing team

Members of a special E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System testing team pose for a group photo after a flight trial held in Germany last month. The ground and flight tests on a NATO AWACS made strides in proving that the waveforms cause no interference to military and civilian air traffic control. Participants included representation from ESC's 635th Electronic Systems Squadron, Belgium, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, NATO, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States. (Courtesy photo)

Makeover for F-86

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. –James Gouveia of R. J. McAuliffe Painting, Lowell, Mass., paints stripes on Hanscom’s F-86 Sabre static display on May 29. Both the F-86 and the P-40 displays are getting makeovers, complete with fresh coats of paint and some corrosion repair work to preserve the base’s heritage displays. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda LaBonte Britt)