Congress has been told repeatedly at hearings over the past two weeks that the C-17 is being ridden hard. That also means there’ll be an increase in depot work. Officials at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia told the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph that the C-17 workload at the depot will double next year, partially due to modification of the airlifter but also due to the high optempo. They predict that 150 workers will work 208,000 man-hours on the C-17 in Fiscal 2006. The following year, the newspaper reports that some 400 workers will put in 512,000 hours.
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.