Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta paid a visit to Lackland AFB, Tex., specifically to extend his thanks to the base’s airmen for their role in transporting and aiding evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In a 55-hour period during the Katrina evacuation, Lackland took in 9,788 evacuees on 89 aircraft. During Rita, the base processed 1,133 evacuees and set up a 24-hour reception center. Mineta called it the “largest domestic airlift in United States history.” He added, “How reassuring it must have been, knowing that they were in the hands of our nation’s finest, the men and women of Team Lackland.”
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.