The Air 
Force’s C-17 transport fleet has surpassed two million total flying hours, less than 18 years since C-17 operations began, Air Forces Central officials announced. A C-17 operating from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, reached this flight-hour milestone for the fleet on Dec. 10 during an airdrop mission over Afghanistan. The Air Force has been operating C-17s since June 1993. Today the fleet size stands at 205 airframes, with delivery of the latest new-build C-17 last week to Charleston AFB, S.C., an Air Mobility Command spokesman confirmed to the Daily Report Monday. The Air Force has ordered an additional eight C-17s from Boeing and is authorized to acquire 10 more beyond that for an eventual fleet of 223. According to AFCENT, C-17s accumulated the first million flying hours by 2006 and needed only four years to amass the second million. (Bagram photo caption by SSgt. Christopher Boitz)
Earlier this week, the People’s Republic of China confirmed it is halting its nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., in retaliation for the U.S. continuing to sell arms to Taiwan. The move reinforces a “pattern of behavior” from Beijing, experts say.