A US Air Force C-17 aircrew about to embark on a routine five-stop mission in Southwest Asia got diverted on short notice to Cyprus to participate in the mass evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon. After a four-hour flight to Cyprus, the crew configured their airlifter with mesh seats to take on their maximum load of 102 passengers—they got 101. They were loaded within 20 minutes, but the C-17 crew had to wait for another couple of hours to get a slot into Ramstein AB, Germany. It’s all in a day’s work.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.