Reservists with the 315th Airlift Wing delivered 35 pallets containing more than 275,000 dehydrated rice soy casserole meals to Ramstein AB, Germany, last week. The more than 50,000 pounds of meals, which were donated by Global Samaritan Resources and are worth about $85,000, will be flown to Iraq and then delivered by truck to Kurdish refugees who have fled ISIS and are located in northern Iraq. The humanitarian aid was flown to Germany via a joint State Department and US Aid program that allows humanitarian supplies to be flown on a space available basis aboard USAF aircraft. “Personnally, I love flying these types of missions,” said TSgt. Brian Farmintino, a loadmaster with the 300th Airlift Squadron. “They really show the flexibility of our wing. We combined a training mission, with evaluations, and an instructional ride with a real-world humanitarian mission and added an aeromedical evacuation trainer on top of that.”
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.