The Royal Australian Air Force has received its first new C-17 airlifter from prime contractor Boeing during a ceremony at the company’s Long Beach, Calif., production facility Tuesday, according to a Boeing release. The RAAF C-17 is the latest version—Block 17—and displays a Black Stallion on its tail to signify the No. 36 Squadron, based near Brisbane at Amberley. The new airlifter will reach its home on Dec. 6 after a stopover in the Australian capital of Canberra.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.