A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III plane carrying supplies and vehicles for U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming two-day visit to Vietnam landed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Friday afternoon. 

The C-17 military transport aircraft, belonging to the U.S. Air Force, carried out the first of several logistics flights from the U.S. to Vietnam in preparation for President Biden’s Vietnam visit slated on September 10-11 at the invitation of Vietnamese Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

The plane, numbered 33126, brought a number of specialized cars and wrapped packages to Hanoi and left the airport two hours ago after these items were unloaded.

Another C-17 was slated to touch down at the airport on Friday evening, and some other logistics flights are set to arrive in Hanoi on September 4 and 5, all for serving the U.S. president’s trip.  

The C-17 Globemaster III is a heavyweight military aircraft developed by Berkeley-based aerospace manufacturing firm McDonnell Douglas at the end of the 1980s for strategic and tactical transportation.

With a length of 53 meters and a hold being 5.5 meters wide and 4.6 meters high, a C-17 has a carrying capacity of 77 tons and a flight range of 10,000 kilometers. 

In addition to the mission of transporting weapons and troops, this type of aircraft is also used to transport things to serve American presidents during their overseas trips.

The upcoming visit will be the first by President Biden since assuming office in early 2021, and will happen as the countries celebrate 10 years of their comprehensive partnership. 

The event will also mark the first time when a U.S. president pays a visit to the Southeast Asian country at the invitation of a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In a statement on Tuesday, Vietnam’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said, “We believe visits by top leaders of the two countries will deepen Vietnam and U.S.’s relations, helping the relations grow stably, substantially and in the long term in all fields, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.”

The White House on Monday also released a statement, saying that “the leaders will explore opportunities to promote the growth of a technology-focused and innovation-driven Vietnamese economy, expand our people-to-people ties through education exchanges and workforce development programs, combat climate change, and increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region.”

Vietnam and the U.S. established diplomatic relations in November 1995, and upgraded their relations to a comprehensive partnership in July 2013.

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