A C-17 lifted two 25,000-pound Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles from an austere airstrip at Forward Operating Base Farah, in western Afghanistan. “The interesting part of this was landing on the semi-prepared field, which is a dirt runway,” said Maj. Wes Skenfield, 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron pilot deployed from JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., in discussing the May 10 mission. “It all came together really well, and actually the conditions were better than I expected,” he added. The provincial reconstruction team at Farah no longer needed the MRAP all-terrain vehicles, “so we are giving them to another unit,” said Army Capt. Terell Jones, PRT logistics boss at the FOB. “It has been a really long time since a C-17 landed here, but the mission was a success as a result of the coordination between the different services,” added Jones. (Farah report by Navy Lt. Benjamin Addison)
When Space Force leaders started talking about expanding the service early this year, the idea was simple: double the size of the force in the next five years. At AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference this week, officials detailed just how they’re planning to grow so much so quickly.
