Air Mobility Command has proved the use of C-17 strategic airlifters to support the nation’s missions at the South Pole, when an aircrew from McChord AFB, Wash., dropped the first C-17 load—about 70,000 pounds—to scientists at the pole. The typical Operation Deep Freeze platform is an LC-130, but the C-17 can deliver four times as much in a single pass. Use of the C-17s is key to emergency resupply, especially when conditions prevent the ski-equipped LC-130s from landing.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
