Aircrews operating the Air Force’s new C-17 airlifter continue to sing its praises, even old-time C-130 drivers. Air Force Reservist and former C-130 pilot Maj. Bob Hagstrom, with the 732nd Airlift Squadron at McGuire AFB, N.J., spent three weeks flying the C-17 into austere—read that dirt, rocks, and sand—airstrips in Afghanistan. He called the C-17 an “enormous aircraft compared to the C-130,” and added, “It was awesome to see the aircraft’s maneuverability and capability in this environment.”
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.