A US Air Force C-17 aircrew about to embark on a routine five-stop mission in Southwest Asia got diverted on short notice to Cyprus to participate in the mass evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon. After a four-hour flight to Cyprus, the crew configured their airlifter with mesh seats to take on their maximum load of 102 passengers—they got 101. They were loaded within 20 minutes, but the C-17 crew had to wait for another couple of hours to get a slot into Ramstein AB, Germany. It’s all in a day’s work.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
