Selah Airstrip to re-open at Yakima Training Center Nov. 15

By Joint Base Lewis-McChord Garrison Public AffairsNovember 13, 2018

Selah Airstrip to re-open at Yakima Training Center Nov. 15
Two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems are prepped for loading onto a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft prior to a rapid infiltration HI-RAIN exercise June 22, 2016, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Each HIMARS weighs more than 20,000 pounds and is capab... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The Selah Airstrip at the Yakima Training Center will re-open to aircraft operations Nov. 15 at 11 a.m. The airstrip has not been used for fixed-wing aviation since 2003 due to pavement degradation. Renovation of the airstrip began in 2017.

YTC will commemorate the airstrip re-opening with the inaugural landing of a 62nd Airlift Wing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carrying a 17th Field Artillery Brigade High-Mobility Artillery Rocket (HIMARS) launcher, both from JBLM.

The C-17 will land on the newly-renovated airstrip to demonstrate a joint HIMARS Rapid Infiltration (HIRAIN) forcible entry mission, the kind of training YTC can now handle. The HIMARS launcher will offload from the C-17, fire several Reduced Range Practice Rockets (RRPR) into the YTC impact area, and load back onto the C-17 for takeoff.

Re-opening the airstrip to some of the U.S. Air Force's largest cargo planes will expand training opportunities at YTC for Joint Base Lewis-McChord and military units throughout the Department of Defense.

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