Air Mobility Command officials said Thursday that AMC transports have already logged more than 473 sorties to Haiti since Jan. 13 as part of the massive international relief effort there. C-130s and C-17s have brought nearly 2,250 tons of food, water, medicine, equipment, and other gear and about 2,000 passengers to the earthquake-ravaged nation, while evacuating almost 2,000 US citizens. Meanwhile, Pacific Air Forces has dispatched three C-17s from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and four C-17s from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Charleston AFB, S.C., from which they will fly relief missions. And Air Forces Southern is exploring whether an airfield can be opened in the Haitian coastal city of Jacmel to relieve the burden on the Port-au-Prince international airport, the main relief artery thus far, and increase the flow of help. (Davis-Monthan report by TSgt. Eric Petosky) (Hickam report by SSgt. LuCelia Ball) (Scott report)
Multiple U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters have deployed to the strategic outpost of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to protect the myriad of assets deployed there, including strategic bombers.