Pair of C-17s to rotate in and out of Ramstein

[unhappycamper]

Pair of C-17s to rotate in and out of Ramstein
By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 31, 2008

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — U.S. Air Forces in Europe soon will have a pair of C-17 cargo jets at its disposal in Germany for airlift missions across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Air Mobility Command is rotating the C-17 Globemaster IIIs and crews in and out of Ramstein every four months. The planes and crews will come from Air Force Reserve units in the United States.

The first C-17 — from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. — arrived this month and will fly its first mission on Friday to Iraq. A second plane, coming from McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., is scheduled to arrive sometime this spring.

The move is expected to give European-based military commanders the ability to move more cargo faster. Having rotational C-17s in Germany also will save money because they won’t have to be flown from the U.S. every time a mission calls for the four-engine cargo plane.

With the buildup of a new U.S. Africa Command and more missions being conducted on the African continent, the Air Force has been looking to bring the service’s newest cargo plane to Europe over the past year.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52070



uhc comment: The C-17 program money spigot is set cut off in 2009 --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=5912