A C-130 Hercules touched down at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, June 20, bringing expanded flight capabilities to the Afghan Air Force.

After a week-long journey beginning at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, the arrival of the C-130 in Afghanistan’s capital city illustrates a partnership that will provide increased tactical airlift and mobility operations throughout Afghanistan and beyond.

In 2010, coalition partners recognised that C-130s could provide the Afghan Air Force with increased airlift, resupply and casualty evacuation capabilities, and a plan to supply the Afghan Air Force with a fleet of their own was born. Two aircraft arrived in mid-2013, with a third the following summer. The arrival of the fourth and final C-130 from the United States signifies a programme five years in the making, and well worth the wait.