Fly
ing over Afghanistan, two USAF C-17s on Oct. 11 made one of the largest single airdrops since the start of operations there, reports SSgt. Trevor Tierman. The aircrews dropped 62 bundles of cargo, weighing about 85,000 pounds, to coalition ground forces to sustain them through the winter. The mission marked the first time two aircraft had airdropped supplies simultaneously to the same drop zone in the area of responsibility, said TSgt. Marvin Mosley, one of the mission loadmasters. It also kept convoys from having to navigate a potentially dangerous 200-mile route to the forward operating base.
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.