Air Force transporters airdrop cargo record Published Jan. 24, 2012 By Staff Reports 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Robins has yet another feather to place in its cap. Two of the Air Force transporters it manages and maintains, the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III, were instrumental in helping the service airdrop a record amount of cargo to deployed forces in 2011. The Air Force airdropped more than 80 million pounds of cargo during the year, besting its previous record for airdrops made in a 12-month period by nearly 16 million pounds, according to an Air Mobility Command report. 80 million pounds of airdropped cargo is the equivalent of standing on a mountaintop and watching 584 M1 Abrams tanks -- or 12,524 Chevrolet Silverado trucks -- floating down from the sky. The airdrops were made exclusively by C-130s and C-17s, the report said, adding airdrops are helping to save lives -- particularly in Afghanistan -- by keeping convoys off the road. It quotes Army Staff Sgt. Denton Poe, a platoon sergeant at a combat outpost in Afghanistan, as saying, "Utilizing airdrops ... allows us that avenue to use in case we can't get resupplied by helicopters or vehicles by the road, which is a typical case come winter here."