When Armenia faced serious food shortages in the autumn of 1992, the government requested U.S. assistance through diplomatic channels. Responding to State Department needs, the Office of Global Affairs of the Defense Department authorized shipments of flour to Armenia, some by airlift.
At the end of October and the beginning of November, trucks transported hundreds of tons of flour from Department of Agriculture stocks at Kansas City, Missouri, to Kelly AFB, Texas. Between November 1 and 11, five Air Force cargo aircraft transported 236 tons of flour from Kelly through Dover AFB, Delaware, and Rhein-Main AB, Germany, to Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Participating organizations included the 60th, 436th, and 439th Airlift Wings; and the 22d and 337th Airlift Squadrons. The air fleet included four C–5s and one C–141. The airlift helped to sustain Armenians until more flour, some transported by sealift, arrived overland through Turkey.