Air Mobility Command has proved the use of C-17 strategic airlifters to support the nation’s missions at the South Pole, when an aircrew from McChord AFB, Wash., dropped the first C-17 load—about 70,000 pounds—to scientists at the pole. The typical Operation Deep Freeze platform is an LC-130, but the C-17 can deliver four times as much in a single pass. Use of the C-17s is key to emergency resupply, especially when conditions prevent the ski-equipped LC-130s from landing.
As the Space Force prepares to mark its sixth birthday—and Gen. Chance Saltzman embarks on his last year as Chief of Space Operations—the service has released a new document meant to sum up its current status and all of Saltzman’s efforts to solidify the Space Force’s identity as a warfighting…
