One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

2001
Lockheed Martin’s X–35A Joint Strike Fighter landing at Edwards Air Force Base,
California, after its first flight on October 24, 2000
earned the Mackay Trophy by rescuing another MH–53 crew whose
helicopter had crashed on a rescue mission in the mountains of
Afghanistan.
November 28: C–17s landed in Afghanistan on an airstrip about 80 miles
south of Kandahar to deliver Navy Seabees as part of Operation SWIFT
FREEDOM, which introduced U.S. ground forces into Afghanistan.
December 12: A B–1B on a bombing mission to Afghanistan crashed in the
Indian Ocean about 10 miles north of its island base, Diego Garcia,
but the crew survived. It was the first USAF aircraft lost in the war in
Afghanistan and the first B–1 lost in combat.
December 13: President George W. Bush informed Russia that the United
States would withdraw from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty of 1972,
which prevented the United States from developing and implementing
a missile defense system.
December 17: USAF C–17 Globemaster III airplanes began airlifting French
troops from Istres Air Base, France, to Afghanistan as part of Operation
ENDURING FREEDOM.
December 26: Undersecretary of Defense Pete Aldridge announced Pentagon
approval of low-rate initial production of the one-ton Joint Air-to-
160