USAF airmen worked with Afghan National Army Air Corps personnel to aid 83 Kuchi nomads, whose village on a sandbar in a river they could normally walk across was endangered by rising flood waters Feb. 8. The USAF airmen, members of the 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group flew with ANAAC personnel in two Mi-17 helicopters to retrieve the villagers, which proved problematic due to a dust storm and lack of good directions. Meanwhile, at Kandahar Airfield, USAF airmen had to recover from their own flash flood. Some folks in tents found themselves knee-deep in water in the middle of the night Feb. 7. The flood waters covered much of the installation, including a supply compound, and sunk many vehicles in mud. (Kandahar flood rescue report and flood clean-up report by SSgt. Angelique Smythe)
As near-peer adversaries have increased their reach and lethality, the U.S. Air Force is accelerating the tanker fleet recapitalization and aggressively pulling forward the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System (NGAS) to meet the threat. Globally operating the KC-46A has advanced mission...