The first C-17 cargo aircraft assigned to Travis AFB, Calif., touched down at the base on Tuesday. Dubbed Spirit of Solano, it’s the first of 13 new C-17s destined for Travis and will be on its first mission—flying to Europe—this week. Travis now flies three of the service’s mobility mainstays—C-5 and C-17 airlifters and KC-10 aerial refuelers. A crowd of some 2,000 included Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), who has advocated increasing the Air Force’s C-17 purchase, and who told attendees, “The C-17 has proven itself the world’s most versatile, reliable, and capable aircraft.” She added that confronting the “ever-changing face of global threats and calamities” has “stretched too far” the nation’s airlift capabilities.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.