A USAF aeromedical evacuation control team flew 11 of the 14 survivors of the Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan on Feb. 18 to Germany within hours of the crash that killed eight personnel, including Air Force TSgt. Scott Duffman. The airmen kept the troops stable during the long flight to Germany aboard a C-17 airlifter. The survivors had head and chest injuries as well as multiple fractures.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.