Wright-Patt’s 445th Airlift Wing on ‘standby’ to assist in Afghanistan mission

She directed further questions to the press office for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The Airlift Wing “provides worldwide airlift of troops, supplies, and operational support to almost every Air Force contingency,” the wing says on its web site.

It was unclear Monday afternoon what a possible mission might entail or where that mission might take the 445th. The situation in Afghanistan and nearby countries is complex and developing by the hour.

President Biden has ordered an acceleration of the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, bringing the number of American troops there to 5,000 or more.

The Pentagon has announced that 3,000 forces would join the 1,000 already in the country as part of an effort to evacuate Americans and allies.

Meanwhile, the famous air cargo aircraft associated with the 445th is getting new attention after Sunday’s chaotic events in and around Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

Multiple reports Sunday and Monday said U.S. C-17 aircraft are playing an heroic role in the evacuation of Afghanistan’s capital.

The UK Defense Journal, among others, reported that a C-17 cargo aircraft airlifted some 800 people from Kabul in a single flight.

That’s about 600-plus more people than what the plane’s specifications allow.

According to sacprogram.org, the C-17, with 72.6 tons (or 160,000 pounds) of cargo, can take off from a 2,133 meter (7,000 feet) airfield, fly unrefueled for a top distance of 4,400 kilometers (2,400 nautical miles) and land in 900 meters (3,000 feet) on a unpaved or paved airfield in day or night.

Credit: U.S. Air Force

Credit: U.S. Air Force

Normal troop seating is accommodated with 54 fixed sidewall seats and/or 48 centerline cargo floor seats, the web site also says, adding: “For special configurations a maximum seating combination using sidewall seats and 9 seat pallets will support up to 188 passengers.”

The Air Force identifies the plane’s load capabilities as “102 troops/paratroops; 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients and attendants; 170,900 pounds (77,519 kilograms) of cargo (18 pallet positions).”

The 445th Airlift Wing, under the Air Force Reserve Command, flies the C-17 Globemaster III.

As of January 2020, the wing included 16 units with an inventory of nine Globemaster III aircraft and more than 2,000 personnel.

The 445th was activated at Wright-Patterson in 1994 when two former units combined: the 906th Fighter Group from Wright-Patterson and the 907th Tactical Airlift Group from Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, which were deactivated Sept. 30, 1994.

In a statement Monday, U.S. Rep Mike Turner, R-Dayton — the subcommittee chairman on the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — called the situation in Afghanistan “more of a surrender than a withdrawal.”

“The Biden administration left a weakened Afghan national military by ripping the US and NATO forces from the integrated chain of command,” Turner said.

“Now as Afghanistan is falling to the Taliban, we’re not going to have a place from which to operate, either in counterterrorism against ISIS or Al Qaeda or in support of the Afghan national military,” the congressman added. “This is truly a travesty. This will be a humanitarian crisis and it will result in a refugee crisis.”

Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican and senior member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, in his own statement, said that “any withdrawal should have been based on the conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timeline.”

“It is wrong for the Biden administration to suggest that the events we are witnessing today are an inevitable outcome,” Portman said. “It is obvious there was no systematic plan for withdrawal. We provided 2,500 troops to serve in a train and assist mission, and when paired with forces from our NATO allies, provided a stabilizing force to the Afghan National Army.”

“I am extremely concerned about the safety and security of Americans on the ground, as well as Afghans who helped our country over the past two decades,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement from his office. “We must do everything in our power to evacuate them to safety and provide refuge from the unfolding humanitarian crisis.”