Two C-17s left Travis AFB, Calif., on Jan. 10 en route to Kigali, Rwanda, via Ramstein AB, Germany, to carry out the US airlift operation announced last week by President Bush to support African Union and UN peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan. These aircraft are manned by members of Travis’ active duty 60th Air Mobility Wing and its associate 349th AMW, an Air Force Reserve Command unit, Travis spokeswoman A1C Kristen Rohrer told the Daily Report yesterday. She said the airlift operation could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The aircraft will remain in Africa until all the cargo is delivered, she said. The two C-17s will deliver nine 21,000-ton multi-use trucks as well as other vehicles for the peacekeepers, Stars and Stripes reported yesterday. More than one week before the C-17s departed Travis, about two dozen members of the base’s 615th Contingency Response Wing left for Kigali to begin coordinating the mission with other US and international agencies and to prepare the vehicles for air transport. (Includes Travis report by 1st Lt. Nicole Langley, Travis report by A1C Kristen Rohrer) (For more on the operation, read Ramstein report by MSgt. Jim Fisher)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.