Air Mobility Command will station two C-17s at Ramstein AB, Germany, for four-month stints for the foreseeable future. The rotational deployment will give US Air Forces in Europe the capacity to move cargo more quickly into places like Africa, which is taking on more importance to the US military, and the Middle East, Stars and Stripes reports. Air Force Reserve Command will supply the C-17s and aircrews, the newspaper said on Jan. 31. The first C-17, from Charleston AFB, S.C., is already in place, having arrived in January. Its partner will arrive later this year from McGuire AFB, N.J., according to the newspaper. The rotational airplanes and aircrews will be known as the 779th Expeditionary Airlift Flight, or “C-17 Ram,” in base jargon. Ramstein is currently home to C-130s. USAFE will not be alone in having a C-17 presence on the European mainland as NATO is planning to operate three C-17s, if not more, in 2009 from Papa, Hungary.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
