Air Mobility Command wants to put its new C-17 forces through short-field combat landing training using the Grant County Airport in Moses Lake, Wash. This is the same site used by C-17s assigned to McChord AFB, Wash. The new forces include Air Force Reserve Command’s 452nd Air Mobility Wing at March ARB, Calif., which received its eight C-17s in 2006, and AMC’s 60th AMW at Travis AFB, Calif., which is to receive the last of its 13 C-17s in 2008. According to a draft environmental impact statement (caution: large file), AMC plans to construct an assault runway either at Travis or at the former George Air Force Base in California—but not until 2008. Meanwhile, it needs a training site. A Travis civil engineer told the Columbia Basin Herald that the C-17s would use Moses Lake until 2009 or early 2010.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
