Article Posted on : - Nov 17, 2010

The seventh Boeing C-17 Globemaster III which was delivered to the UK's Royal Air Force on November 16, 2010. Photo: Boeing.

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA (BNS): United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (UK's RAF) received its seventh C-17 Globemaster III on Tuesday during a ceremony at Boeing’s final assembly facility in Long Beach.

The C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, built by Boeing, will be deployed in the coming weeks for global humanitarian and military missions.

"The addition of a seventh C-17 to our fleet is a significant milestone that strengthens our support of operations worldwide, especially in Afghanistan," Peter Luff, UK Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, was quoted as saying in a Boeing news release.

The United Kingdom's fleet of C-17s has logged more than 60000 flight hours, and this year supported humanitarian and disaster-relief missions to Pakistan, Haiti and Chile.

Assigned to 99 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton near Oxford, C-17s provide critical airlift capability for the nation’s Joint Rapid Reaction Force.

Brize Norton is the RAF's main operating base for strategic air transport and air-to-air refueling.

The C-17 is the world's only tactical airlift aircraft with strategic capabilities that allow it to fly between continents and land on short, austere runways.