The first C-17 cargo aircraft assigned to Travis AFB, Calif., touched down at the base on Tuesday. Dubbed Spirit of Solano, it’s the first of 13 new C-17s destined for Travis and will be on its first mission—flying to Europe—this week. Travis now flies three of the service’s mobility mainstays—C-5 and C-17 airlifters and KC-10 aerial refuelers. A crowd of some 2,000 included Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), who has advocated increasing the Air Force’s C-17 purchase, and who told attendees, “The C-17 has proven itself the world’s most versatile, reliable, and capable aircraft.” She added that confronting the “ever-changing face of global threats and calamities” has “stretched too far” the nation’s airlift capabilities.
The Pentagon abruptly relieved Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, and his NSA civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, on April 3.