The New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing continues its longstanding and unique mission—supplying scientists working on the ice, whether it’s Greenland or the South Pole. Recently, TSgt. Mike R. Smith reports that they served as the only supply line for the National Science Foundation in Greenland, flying in 2,100 gallons of fuel and three pallets of supplies to an Arctic outpost for the scientists via the unit’s ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules. The Greenland mission helps fulfill part of the on-the-ice training for airlift missions in the South Pole. Using a training skyway, the Air Guardsmen practice air drops, host a barren land arctic survival school called “Kool School” and more. The airlifts for the NSF occur between late March and mid-August; missions to Antarctica take place October through February.
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
