Maintainers from the Royal Australian Air Force are getting a little C-17 training help from their American counterparts at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, as they prepare to receive their first C-17 airlifter. USAF photojournalist TSgt. Shane Cuomo reports that the 15th Maintenance Group at Hickam is training maintainers from the Amberly RAAF 36th Squadron on the ins and outs of the C-17. The RAAF expects to receive its first C-17—which will be based at Amberly near Brisbane—on Nov. 28.
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.