Boeing delivered a third C-17 transport to the United Arab Emirates during a ceremony at the company’s final assembly facility in Long Beach, Calif. The Middle East nation has six C-17s on order. It received its first C-17 in May and the second in June. Those two aircraft “have been flying around the world in support of humanitarian missions,” stated UAE Air Force and Air Defence Col. Pilot Humaid Al Mansoori at the July 28 ceremony. He added, “The fleet’s newest airlifter is a welcome addition so that we can continue to be ready for any contingency, anywhere and anytime.” Boeing is scheduled to deliver the fourth UAE C-17 later this year and the remaining two next year. There are now 234 C-17s in service worldwide: 211 in the Air Force and 23 with international customers.(Boeing release)
A dozen and a half Air Force Reservists formally transferred to the Space Force on July 15, becoming the new service’s first 18 part-time Guardians. The move is the culmination of more than two and a half years of work to create a system unlike any other military branch.