An Air Force C-17 broke an airdrop record on Sunday, when the airlifter delivered 32,400 pounds of humanitarian aid within 40 minutes to four locations in Afghanistan. The mission, conducted by a crew deployed from McChord AFB, Wash., marks the most cargo air dropped to four zones in the shortest amount of time from a single aircraft in the history of US airdrops, said Lt. Col. Charles Ciuzio, chief of the Air Mobility Division at the Combined Air Operations Center in Southwest Asia. The supplies included winter survival gear, tools, school supplies, food, and blankets.
In a nighttime ceremony contrived to continue concealment of many of its features, the new B-21 bomber rolled out of Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif. plant Dec. 2. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the aircraft's advanced technology represents "deterrence, the American way."