Logistician’s Nightmare: Orlando, February 19, 2010—Gen. Duncan McNabb said US Transportation Command has made great strides in delivering additional troops and cargo to Afghanistan, despite that country’s landlocked location and tough terrain, not to mention its “very interesting neighbors.” Speaking at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium, McNabb said normally airlift would deliver about 10 percent of cargo destined within a combat theater, but in Afghanistan that number is between 20 and 30 percent. “When you think about the importance of air [in Afghanistan], it’s huge,” he said. Complicating things further, he said, is the fact many forward locations lack suitable airfields, but improvements, such as runway matting, concrete ramps, fuel pumps, and cargo loaders, are being made. (Meanwhile, airdrops jumped considerably last year.)
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force recently, as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S., as the bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.