Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has reportedly joined the push to have a squadron of eight C-17s stationed at Stewart ANGB in Newburgh, N.Y., to replace the 12 C-5As that currently are assigned to the base’s 105th Airlift Wing. The Mid-Hudson News Network reported Aug. 8 that Clinton, sent a letter on that same day to Gen. Norton Schwartz, newly confirmed to be the next Chief of Staff, urging him to consider assigning to Stewart eight of the additional 15 C-17s that the Air Force will receive with funding provided in the recently passed Fiscal 2008 war supplemental. Clinton said given that the base’s C-5As are not slated to get new engines and reliability upgrades, it would “better aid the Air Force in meeting the global challenges facing our nation” by stationing the C-17s at Stewart.
Reports of production troubles on the SpaceX rocket that could contend for military cargo deliveries happened to coincide with a different company’s concept receiving an early nod—one that might not require a rocket at all.