The Aug. 15 C-17 evacuation flight from Kabul set a new record—by far—for the number of passengers carried on a Globemaster III flight at 823 people, a dramatic rise from the initially reported number on the flight. The crew of the C-17, call sign REACH871 from the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, decided for themselves to take off from Hamid Karzai International Airport with the plane packed full of Afghan evacuees because of a “dynamic security environment” as the situation at the airport deteriorated. A photograph of the flight has circulated around the world, showcasing the USAF airlift mission out of Afghanistan. Air Mobility Command, in a statement Aug. 20, said the initial count of 643 included only adults sitting in bus seats after the C-17 landed at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. It did not include the 183 children sitting on adult laps.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Aug. 22 activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to assist with the ongoing airlift out of Afghanistan. Tens of thousands have fled the country. The Stage 1 CRAF activation includes 18 aircraft—three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines, which will fly from staging bases in the region but not from Kabul. It is the third activation in the history of the program, after Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. As of early Aug. 22, 25,100 personnel had flown out of Kabul on military and coalition flights since the evacuation began on Aug. 14. The evacuation airlift out of Kabul halted for several hours Aug. 20 as the staging facility at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, hit its capacity limit with several thousand still staged to leave Kabul. Flights had since resumed.

President Joe Biden extended his commitment Aug. 20 to evacuate all Americans in Afghanistan, as well as the Afghans who helped coalition forces, even if it could not be done by a self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline. Military commanders in recent days had promised only “as many as possible” Afghans would be evacuated by the deadline and said the U.S. would not push out its perimeter or retrieve evacuees in distress. Biden said he would order operations beyond the airport as necessary to rescue Americans.

The State Department has not recognized the Taliban government, and despite the presence of dozens of U.S.-provided aircraft and hundreds of Afghan service members in neighboring countries, the U.S. is focusing its attention on evacuating the thousands of Afghans and Americans still in Afghanistan. The State Department said the Afghan aircraft were secure and the service members were safely in the care of the respective governments. “Due to the critical situation in Afghanistan, we are focused on the humanitarian effort, which is currently affecting Afghanistan and its neighbors," a State Department spokesperson told Air Force Magazine.

With KC-135s and KC-10s surging forward to help with the ongoing airlift out of Afghanistan, KC-46s are picking up some slack back home with the new tanker's first operational taskings under Air Mobility Command's plan to have the Pegasus start flying limited operations. KC-46s have flown three missions tasked by AMC’s Tanker and Airlift Control Center. During the first on Aug. 11, a KC-46 from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., refueled F/A-18s using the tanker’s centerline drogue system. “The timing is perfect,” said Brig. Gen. Daniel A. DeVoe, commander of the 618th Air Operations Center, also known as the TACC, at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

The next phase of the Air Force’s long-term tanker recapitalization program may have some Lockheed Martin Skunk Works flavor, and the advanced development unit is looking ahead to the stealthy KC-Z competition and a potential lighter-than-air transport, Skunk Works Vice President and General Manager Jeff A. Babione said. The advanced development unit is also still investing in its P791 airship concept, Babione said. Airships have the potential of “revolutionizing how we move large volumes,” particularly because airships don’t need a large infrastructure of runways.

F-16s and F-15s from the Air Force’s 31st and 48th Fighter Wings linked up in northwestern Wales in mid-July, conducting a rare air-to-air live fire training exercise in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE) area of responsibility. For the 31st Fighter Wing, based out of Aviano Air Base, Italy, it was the first time in 14 years that the wing’s F-16Cs were able to conduct such training in Europe.