Members of the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 164th Airlift Wing in Memphis inaugurated the unit’s transition from the C-5A transport to the C-17, reported Memphis’ The Commercial Appeal. The Feb. 2 ceremony featured two of the eight C-17s on display that the wing will have in place by 2015, according to the newspaper’s report from that same day. “Anytime you change from one platform to another is really a major thing within the military,” said wing spokesman Capt. Ben Alumbaugh. Wing maintainers began training on the C-17 last year at JB McChord-Lewis, Wash, in preparation for the arrival of the new airlifter type at Memphis.
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.