NATO members would do well to buy or lease some C-17s for their strategic airlift needs, the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, US Marine Corps Gen. James Jones said March 6 at a Pentagon press conference. According to Jones the European decision to go with an EADS A-400M airlifter, which is still on the drawing board, is shortsighted, since the aircraft won’t meet the whole requirement. Jones says the A-400M is “a tactical aircraft, not a strategic aircraft,” and added that “there’s a need for both.”
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.