Operation Christmas Drop Marks 70 Years Of Giving

Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 06:09 PM ET

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U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Kim Doyle, and U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Spencer Kans, loadmasters assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan, watch as bundles fly off an aircraft during Operation Christmas Drop at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Dec. 10, 2021. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Aubree Owens

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Air Force recently concluded its annual "Christmas Drop," a weeklong humanitarian airdrop that delivered essential supplies like food, tools, and clothing to over 55 remote islands in the South Pacific, including Micronesia and Palau.
This 70-year-old tradition, the Department of Defense's longest-running humanitarian and disaster relief training mission, serves the dual purpose of providing critical aid to over 22,000 residents while also offering vital combat readiness and disaster relief training for U.S. and partner nation aircrews in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Santa came early this year for dozens of island communities in the South Pacific, powered not by nine reindeer, but instead four Rolls-Royce turboprop power plants, each generating 4,700 horsepower.

Last week, U.S. Air Force crew members concluded an annual weeklong airdrop of food, tools, fishing equipment, and clothing out the back of C-130 Hercules to more than 55 remote islands in the southeastern Pacific. The drop zones, which include the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau, stretch across a 1.8 million square nautical mile operating area, according to the service.