At word that the Air Force is trying to corral—instill some sanity, would be more descriptive—the large unmanned aerial vehicle market within DOD, the Army and friends in Alabama have taken offense. Alabama politicians fear loss of program funding and personnel at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal (per Brian Lawson of The Huntsville Times), and Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, director of aviation, believes USAF has overstepped into ground commander territory (per Jim Wolf of Reuters news service). Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff, sees problems if the Air Force doesn’t gain UAV executive agent status—and some lawmakers agree. They want to see an end to costly duplication.
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.