One option being explored by US Transportation Command as it prepares to move an additional 30,000 troops and their equipment into Afghanistan by mid-2010 is the use of air routes that stretch directly there from the US over the North Pole, Russia, and the Central Asian republics, Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, TRANSCOM boss, told reporters during a breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2009. Here, a force of 20 C-17s prepare to take-off during a training exercise at Charleston AFB, S.C., one of the Air Force's main C-17 hubs, Dec. 21, 2006.
Air Force photo by SSgt. April Quintanilla
