The California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing loaded three HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and assorted equipment aboard a Russian civilian An-124 heavy transport aircraft for the unit’s deployment to Afghanistan. The Air Force’s C-17 fleet is fully engaged in Southwest Asia, so only one could support the 129th RQW on this deployment, reports Capt. Alyson Teeter. The C-17, flown and operated by Air Force Reservists from McChord AFB, Wash., transported the Air Guardsmen.
The Pentagon’s cost estimate for the Iran War has risen to $37.5 billion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a congressional committee July 21—and without emergency supplemental funding, the military will have to “curtail” training to cover those costs, he added.