The C-17 Globemaster III is a high-wing, four-engine, T-tailed aircraft with a rear loading ramp. In 1980, the U.S. Air Force asked for a larger transport that could be refueled in flight and be used in rough forward fields so that it could fly anywhere in the world. On Aug. 28, 1981, McDonnell Douglas won the contract with its proposal to build the C-17. The design met or exceeded all Air Force design specifications. With its 160,000-pound payload, the C-17 can take off from a 7,600-foot airfield, fly 2,400 nautical miles and land on a small, austere airfield in 3,000 feet or less. On the ground, a fully loaded aircraft, using engine reversers, can back up a 2 percent slope. During normal testing, C-17s set 22 world records, including payload to altitude time-to-climb and the short takeoff and landing mark, in which the C-17 took off in less than 1,400 feet, carried a payload of 44,000 pounds to altitude and landed in less than 1,400 feet. Deployed in June 1993, it won the Collier Trophy in 1994, symbolizing the top aeronautical achievement of 1994.