Air Force
Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft airlift nuclear reactor in a first-of-its-kind mission
From staff and wire reports
February 17, 2026
U.S. airmen assigned to the 452nd Logistics Readiness Squadron Aerial Port Flight at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., load a next-generation nuclear reactor onto a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft on Feb. 15, 2026. (Wendy Day/U.S. Air Force)
A next-generation nuclear reactor left March Air Reserve Base, Calif., on Sunday in a first-of-its-kind airlift.
The modules of the reactor were loaded aboard three C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, and the convoy carried the modules to Hill Air Force Base, which is near the Great Salt Lake about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City. The reactor will eventually be sent to the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab for testing and evaluation.
The modules will be part of a reactor called Ward 250 that Valar Atomics, a nuclear energy startup, is aiming to make operational by July 4, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
A containerized nuclear power reactor sits secured within a reinforced steel transport frame at March Air Reserve Base, California, Feb. 13, 2026. (Monique Bright/U.S. Air Force)
Valar’s website describes the Ward 250 as being part of a “second Manhattan Project,” and the airlift was called Operation Windlord, “the first-ever airlift of a nuclear reactor and ancillary systems via C-17, opening a wide aperture for strategic nuclear deployment around the world.”
The 5 megawatt nuclear reactor could theoretically power about 5,000 homes.
For military use, such a reactor could provide energy security on a military base ensuring the mission there need not depend on the civilian power grid, according to a Pentagon news release. In military operations overseas, such reactors would mean U.S. forces could operate without concern that an enemy might cut fuel supplies.
On May 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders designed to advance America’s nuclear energy posture. Those include “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission” and “Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security.”
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright took part in the airlift.
“The American nuclear renaissance is to get that ball moving again, fast, carefully but with private capital, American innovation and determination,” Wright said. “President Trump signed multiple executive orders that have unleashed tremendous reform of all the things that stopped the American nuclear industry from moving.”
Contributing: The (Riverside, Calif.) Press Enterprise, Tribune News Service
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kelly Reinmiller anchors a nuclear power reactor during ground transport operations at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Feb. 13, 2026. (Monique Bright/U.S. Air Force)