It was the 14th Airlift Squadron of Charleston AFB, S.C., that was flying Vice President Dick Cheney on his Southwest Asia tour last month when the Vice President became the object of a suicide bomber attack at Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Cheney stayed there overnight due to poor weather. USAF journalist Shauna Heathman reports that within an hour of the red alert on the morning of Feb. 27, the Charleston crew had Cheney back on the C-17 on his way to Kabul for a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It was the first time the 14th AS had flown such a high-ranking VIP.
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.