Exercise Global Dexterity brings heavy lifters Down Under

A Royal Air Force C-17 has touched down in Queensland, Australia, alongside Royal Australian Air Force and United States Air Force aircraft to take part in Exercise Global Dexterity for the first time.

The series of air mobility training missions at RAAF Base Amberley sees aircrew and groundcrew from each air force fly and maintain each others' aircraft.

Corporal Felicity Hull, a C-17 Loadmaster from 36 Sqn RAAF, said: "It’s incredible to see how we can seamlessly jump into one of their aircraft.

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"We can plan and we can load and we can fly alongside them and execute a mission."

Crews will experience operating out of austere airfields in northern Australia, as well as the opportunity to practice low-level flying over the mountains of Papua New Guinea.

The UK, Australia and the United States all rely on the C-17 to provide a strategic and tactical airlift capability to destinations across the world.

Participation on Exercise Global Dexterity helps train RAF crews to operate effectively in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as developing interoperability with their American and Australian partners.

After entering service with the RAF in 2001, the C-17 Globemaster has been at the forefront of heavy-lift capability for the British military ever since.

For more than two decades, the C-17 has played a key role in major conflicts such as Operation Herrick in Afghanistan as well as being used in humanitarian and peacekeeping deployments worldwide.