The Air Force planned to employ a C-17 from McChord AFB, Wash., to deliver passengers and cargo yesterday to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, thereby kicking off Operation Deep Freeze 2008-09, the US military’s support for US scientific research activities on the barren continent. (An active-duty and Air Force Reserve Command crew from McChord flew the last mission for the previous season in April.) According to a USAF release, the C-17 would fly multiple missions from Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, the staging point for ODF, to McMurdo Station through Sept. 10 as part of the ODF ramp-up phase. The main body of military and civilian personnel plan to arrive in Antarctica in October.
The advanced F-47 sixth-generation fighter remains on track to fly in the next two years, the senior Air Force acquisition officer overseeing the program said Feb. 25, as the service continues on its ambitious schedule to debut the air superiority-focused fighter by 2028—only three years after the contract was awarded…