Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina, the first base to receive a C-17 two decades ago, took delivery of its 56th Globemaster III. Fresh from Boeing’s assembly line in Long Beach, Calif., Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt and Lt. Col. Mike Desantis of Air Force Reserve Command’s 317th Airlift Squadron ferried the aircraft to Charleston on Dec. 9. The new airlifter joined Charleston’s fleet, which the active duty 437th Airlift Wing operates and maintains together with airmen of AFRC’s 315th AW under an association. “This addition to our fleet obviously adds additional combat capability,” said Col. Steven Chapman, 315th AW commander, in accepting the aircraft for Charleston. “Obviously a C-17 is the airlift method of choice for the commander,” he added, taking the aircraft’s symbolic “key” of ownership from Wyatt and Desantis. Overall, this is the 214th C-17 that Boeing has built for the Air Force. (Charleston release)
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.