Big presence of USAF’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft at city’s airport

l AEROGLEN | Nick Dalton

THE United States Air Force has ‘invaded’ Cairns Airport with their huge C-17 Globemaster aircraft dominating the tarmac and skyline adjacent to the international apron.

At least four of the giants have been parked and have been flying in and out of the Far North as part of Mobility Guardian (MG) 23, the first time the exercise involving the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and the UK has been in this part of the world.

It’s also the largest Air Mobile Command operation in history, involving 3000 personnel.

Aircraft have also been based in Townsville and Darwin and the exercise has covered the IndoPacific region.

The C-17s are part of the 16th Airlift Squadron in Charleston, USA, and the aircraft stationed in Cairns have involved personnel estimated in their hundreds who have been staying in the city, enjoying the food, shopping and sights in their downtime, as well as the USAF spending a vast amount of money.

MG23 is an exercise where the USAF work with their allies and partners across a wide variety and spectrum, including airlifts, aerial refuels, aeromedical evacuations and humanitarian disaster and relief. MG23 exercise direc- tor Major-General Darren Cole said the success of the joint force “requires a capable and integrated mobility air force that has the ability to rapidly deploy and employ in contested, degraded, and operationally limited environments”.

He said the exercise was proving their ability “to manoeuvre the joint force at the moment of our time and choosing. Through MG23, we have the opportunity to become a more tightly integrated force, refining how we all operate, making our mission one and the same. MG23 is building the readiness of the most relied upon manoeuvre force,” MajGen Cole said.

C-17 co-pilot First Lieutenant Brooke Duckworth has been part of the squadron in Cairns and said it was a way for the allies to hone their readiness and finetuning working together. She said the number of C-17s flying in and out of Cairns had fluctuated over the past two weeks and “you’ll see us for the next few days”.

She said she loved flying, especially the C-17, whose nickname is the ‘moose’.

It was the first visit for Ft Lt Duckworth and Technical Sergeant Colton Webster to Cairns and Australia and they were impressed. “The Great Barrier Reef is one of my favourites places. I