The Florida Air National Guardsmen who manned the Southeast Air Defense Sector at Tyndall AFB, Fla., have closed the door on 37 years of history and opened a new one as an Air Operations Center in-the-making. A Nov. 21 news release says a ceremonial switchover took place Friday, but the SEADS airmen have been working toward the change in mission for about four years. According to Col. David Kriner, commander of SEADS and now the 601st AOC, there’s more training and integration to be done. The new AOC will support the Continental US NORAD region, providing air tasking orders and strategy-to-task functions, said Kriner. Picking up SEADS old mission—air defense of the southeastern US—has been split between the Northeast Air Defense Sector and Western Air Defense Sector.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.