Sixth Globemaster III joins RAF

by Derek Yeo - SINGAPORE - 12 June 2008

THE Royal Air Force accepted its sixth C-17 airlifter today. Boeing Company, the manufacturer, marked the aircraft's delivery at a ceremony at its Long Beach (California) C-17 production centre. The RAF's latest acquisition fulfils the United Kingdom's initial order for the C-17.

In his speech, Boeing's Vice President and C-17 Program chief Jean Chamberlin praised the RAF's achievements over seven years of C-17 operations with its five aircraft in service. He recounted how the RAF has proven the C-17's prowess on various missions to Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in crisis worldwide.

Accepting the aircraft, the RAF's Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Logistic Operations) Air Vice-Marshal Kevin Leeson emphasized, “Whether our C-17s are serving in combat or on humanitarian missions, we know they are often the difference between life and death.” He went on to praise Boeing for building “a remarkable airlifter that means so much to British military personnel as they transit to and from operational theatres and to those in desperate need of humanitarian aid in remote, hard-to-access sites around the world”.

Besides the military tasks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the RAF have flown mercy relief flights, using its C-17s, to aid victims of the 2004 tsunami in South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean and earthquakes in Pakistan. The aircraft's modern technologies enable it to fly non-stop between continents. Further, it can land on and take off from short and improvised airstrips in rough terrain.

RAF's C-17s fly with 99 Squadron* based at RAF Brize Norton near London. The advanced airlifters provide critical mobility for the station's strategic Joint Rapid Reaction Force.

The latest C-17 Globemaster III raises the number of C-17s operating around the world to 190: 173 in the United States Air Force; six in the RAF; four in the Royal Australian Air Force and four in the Canadian Forces.

SOURCE: The Boeing Company

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