AIRLIFT/TANKER QUARTERLY Volume 22 • Number 1 • Winter 2014 Operation Damayan U.S. Air Mobility Forces Support Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda Relief Efforts Pages 8-13 In Review: 45th Annual A/TA Convention and the 2013 Air Mobility Symposium & Technology Exposition Pages 18-21 CONTENTS… Association News Chairman’s Comments ........................................................................2 President’s Message ...............................................................................3 Secretary’s Notes ...................................................................................3 Association Round-Up ..........................................................................4 AIRLIFT/TANKER QUARTERLY Volume 22 • Number 1 • Winter 2014 Cover Story Airlift/Tanker Quarterly is published four Operation Damayan times a year by the Airlift/Tanker Association, 9312 Convento Terrace, Fairfax, Virginia 22031. U.S. Air Mobility Forces Support Postage paid at Belleville, Illinois. Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda Relief Efforts ........................................8-13 Subscription rate: $40.00 per year. Change of address requires four weeks notice. The Airlift/Tanker Association is a non-profit Features professional organization dedicated to providing a forum for people interested in improving the Operational Update from the Director capability of U.S. air mobility forces. Membership in the Airlift/Tanker Association is $40 annually Maj Gen Scott M. Hanson, Director, Air Mobility Command Operations ...............6-7 or $110 for three years. Full-time student membership is $15 per year. Life membership is $500. Industry Partner membership includes five In Review: individual memberships and is $1500 per year. 45th Annual A/TA Convention and the Membership dues include a subscription to Airlift/ Tanker Quarterly, and are subject to change. 2013 A/TA Air Mobility Symposium & Technology Exposition ............18-21 Airlift/Tanker Quarterly is published for the use of subscribers, officers, advisors and members of the Airlift/Tanker Association. The appearance of articles or advertisements, Departments including inserts, in Airlift/Tanker Quarterly does not constitute an endorsement by the Airlift/Tanker Association, the Air Mobility Air Mobility News & Views ........................................................... 14-15 Command, the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense, of the viewpoints, Air Mobility Heritage & Heroes .......................................................... 16 products or services mentioned or advertised. ©2014. Articles appearing in this publication may not be reprinted, in any form, without Industry Partner Spotlight: Kalitta Charters .......................................22 prior written approval from the Airlift/Tanker Association. Airlift/Tanker Quarterly is quarterly news cycle- Industry Partner Highlights ...............................................................23 dependent and is distributed as follows: Winter: January / February / March; Spring: April / May / June; Summer: July / August / September; Fall: Association Contacts ..........................................................................24 October / November / December [actual distribution dates vary]. The copy deadline for submitted stories, articles, letters, etc., is as follows: Winter: December 30th; Spring: March 30th; Summer: June 30th; Fall [Convention Edition]: August 30th. Airlift/Tanker Quarterly accepts advertising for the inside front and back covers for the Winter, Spring and Summer Editions; and for throughout the Fall Convention Edition. EDITORIAL STAFF: A/TQ Awarded Gen. Arthur Lichte, USAF, Retired 2013 APEX Chairman, Board of Officers Award of Excellence. Mr. Collin R. Bakse Eight in a Row! Editor and Art Director Mr. Doug Lynch Business Manager Col. Ronald E. Owens, USAF Retired Editorial Advisor Col. Gregory Cook, USAF Retired On the Cover: More than 670 Tacloban residents sit on board a C-17 Globemaster III before being evacuated to Editorial Contributor/Public Affairs Coordinator Manila following Super Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines 8 November 2013. The C-17 deployed from the 535th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, to Clark Air Base in the Philippines in support of Operation Damayan, a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief effort. In addition to the safe transport of the passengers, the Hickam based crew also successfully delivered more than 100,000 pounds of cargo. (U.S. Air Force PRINTED IN U.S.A. Photo/Staff Sgt. Ramon Brockington) A/TQ • Airlift/Tanker Quarterly • Winter 2014 1 KC-46A In the News Long time A/TA Industry Partner The Boeing Company remains confident in their plan to Chairman’s meet its intital operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) requirement in 2016, despite an asses- ment by the office of Dr. J. Michael Gilmore, Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, the COMMENTS senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense on operational and live fire test and evaluation of Well, we are off and running in 2014! Last year’s Orlando Sympo- Department of Defense weapon systems, that sium and Technology Exposition is fading from our memories. The projects a ‘high risk’ of the program being de- good thing is that Orlando 2013 will go down in history as one of layed by six months to a year. the best, especially considering all the unique budget constraints. I Boeing, currently putting the final touches heap praise on EVERYONE who made it a success starting with Gen to the first of four test platforms that have been Kross, our former Chairman, and ALL the volunteers who had the contracted under th $3.9 billion engineering, participants walking away thinking that “smaller” was not really all manufacture and development phase of the that bad. KC-X Program. The remaining 3 platforms are Yes, I did say “former chairman,” Gen Kross. If you didn’t notice in varying stages of production at Boeing’s 767 the new picture on this article, I am now the Chairman of A/TA—a airliner line in Everett, Washington. very proud one and a Life Member. I am excited to take over the Current KC-46A program timelines will see Gen Arthur J Lichte reins of the organization and I might admit, a little bit intimidat- the four test aircraft begin rolling off the pro- USAF, Ret ed because I am following some real air mobility giants who have duction line in their ‘green’ 767-2C provisioned chaired A/TA over the years. I worked directly for the past two Chair- freighter configuration, with a 767-400 flight men, Generals Kross and Fogleman while on active duty. I know they are watching closely to deck and 787 large format displays, in the com- see that I don’t mess up anything. ing weeks, before being flown the short distance It is an exciting time to be at the front of this great organization. The Board is already to “Boeing Field” for the fitting of the aircraft’s working to raise the bar even higher in Nashville this year. As you all know, the convention aerial refuelling components. The first flight of consumes the lion’s share of our annual effort but we are also deeply engaged in a whole host a fully provisioned KC-46A tanker is scheduled of other activities. I certainly don’t see the budget challenges going away, so we have our work to take place in the third quarter of 2015. cut out for us as we partner with AMC in planning the 2014 convention. Authorization for low-rate initial production I have already laid out my top three priorities to the A/TA board: Support Mobility Airmen; for 14 more aircraft is expected to be awarded Preserve the Mobility Culture; and Enhance Relationships. Let me see if I can put some meat on completion of the first flight, with IOT&E on these ‘bones’ for you. scheduled to begin in May 2016. Assuming this Support Mobility Airmen – We will do all we can to advocate and promote the mobility proceeds as planned, a decision on full-rate pro- mission of our Airmen and those of our Allies around the world. All of our convention semi- duction for a further 161 aircraft is to be made nars, educational activities, and award programs support this priority because they highlight in June 2017, to be followed in August of that the best of the best while at the same time, helping them as they continue to develop tactics, year by delivery of the first of 18 combat ready techniques and procedures to continuously improve the mobility mission. KC-46As (including the four refurbished test Preserve the Mobility Culture – We will continue to pay tribute to those who have gone aircraft) to the USAF. before us in the Mobility world. At the top of our recognition list would be all our Hall of Boeing continues to meet or beat its contrac- Fame Inductees, our past Board Members, and those, like General “Bagger” Baginski, who tual requirements and feels its current assess- have recently departed the formation permanently. I think it is important that our young ment confirms that it has a valid flight test plan Airmen hear the stories of what transpired in the past so they can learn from mistakes and in place and the company remains on target to then build on all the successes. It is important for them to see that there is real satisfaction deliver the first 18 combat-ready tankers to the that comes from performing the great air mobility mission and there is still time left over to USAF by 2017. have some fun. I want convention attendees to depart Nashville and future sites with their In a 2008 an article by our new A/TA Asso- eyes wide open and impressed from