Adding credence to the need for acquiring more than 180 C-17 airlifters is a Defense Science Board report (dated September 2005, but just released), in which the well-respected panel rings alarm bells over the 2008 cutoff of C-17 production. The DSB recommends the Pentagon keep open the option to “continue C-17 production beyond 2008.” The panel also recommended continued “evolutionary improvements” to both the C-17 and C-5 to increase their capabilities.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…