The Air Force dispatched a C-17 transport on a medical flight to Antarctica to evacuate a seriously ill contractor supporting National Science Foundation research there. Departing its home station of JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., Tuesday, the aircraft landed briefly at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, where a 13th Air Force medical team embarked. The C-17 then continued on to the Antarctic. Described in serious though stable condition, the patient was slated for evacuation to medical facilities at Christchurch, New Zealand, to undergo treatment. Given the limited treatment options on Antarctica, the NSF asked the USAF-led Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica to send the C-17 to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the evacuation. The task force provides logistical support to US scientific researchers near the South Pole. (Pearl Harbor-Hickam release)
Sierra Nevada Corp. has acquired five ex-Korean Air 747-8 jumbo jets on which it will host the Survivable Airborne Operations Center. The jets will be transferred next year and will serve as the platforms for the SAOC, the $13 billion contract for which SNC won last month. The jets were…