Widening air bridge to Afghanistan no easy feat

[unhappycamper]

Lt. Col. Tommy Atkinson pilots a C-130H Hercules over northern Afghanistan on a humanitarian airdrop mission Sept. 3.


Widening air bridge to Afghanistan no easy feat
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 20, 2009 12:33:51 EST

From concrete runways in South Carolina to dirt airstrips in Afghanistan, the 10,000-mile “air bridge” is open.

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As part of the new buildup, the Air Force needs to move at least three Army brigade combat teams of about 3,500 soldiers each.

Delivering one brigade combat team requires 50 to 60 C-17 flights from the U.S. carrying a total of 1,200 tons of essential cargo that is too valuable to send by sea or land, McNabb said.

Troops will be shuttled by chartered jets to Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, where about 20 more C-17 flights will take the soldiers into Afghanistan. Most of the teams’ gear will arrive by cargo ship in the port city of Karachi in Pakistan, where it will be loaded onto trucks that will take it across the border.

Airlifted gear will be shipped to East Coast U.S. bases, then sent on C-17s that likely will stop at bases in Germany or Spain for refueling. From Europe, the jets zigzag their way across southern Europe and western Asia, avoiding restricted airspace over Iran and Russia before landing in Afghanistan.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/12/airforce_airbridge_121909/